John Oxley
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John Oxley (1783 – 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of English colonisation.
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[edit] Naval career
John Oxley entered the Royal Navy when he was aged sixteen. He travelled to Australia in October 1802 as master’s mate of the naval-vessel Buffalo, which carried out coastal surveying (including the survey of Western Port). In 1805 Oxley was promoted to second lieutenant. In 1806 he commanded the Estramina on a trip to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). He returned to England in 1807 and was appointed first lieutenant in charge of the HMS Porpoise, joining her in 1808. In 1809 the HMS Porpoise visited Van Diemen's Land, carrying as a passenger Governor William Bligh who had been deposed in the Rum Rebellion.[1]
[edit] Surveyor-General of Lands
Oxley again returned to England and on 1 January 1812 was appointed Surveyor-General of Lands in New South Wales. In April 1815 he was with Governor Macquarie when Bathurst was founded.[2]
[edit] Lachlan River expedition
In March 1817 John Oxley was instructed to take charge of an expedition to explore and survey the course of the Lachlan River. He left Sydney on 6 April with George Evans as second-in-command, and Allan Cunningham as botanist. Evans had discovered a portion of the Lachlan River west of Bathurst in 1815. Oxley’s party reached Bathurst after a week, where they were briefly detained by bad weather. They reached the Lachlan River on 25 April 1817 and commenced to follow its course, with part of the stores being conveyed in boats. As the exploring party travelled westward the country surrounding the rising river was found to be increasingly inundated. On 12 May, west of the present township of Forbes, they found their progress impeded by an extensive marsh. After retracing their route for a short distance they then proceeded in a south-westerly direction, intending to travel overland to the southern Australian coastline. By the end of May the party found themselves in dry scrubby country. Shortage of water and the death of two horses forced Oxley’s return to the Lachlan. On 23 June the Lachlan River was reached: “we suddenly came upon the banks of the river… which we had quitted nearly five weeks before”. They followed the course of the Lachlan River for a fortnight. The party encountered much flooded country, and on 7 July Oxley recorded that " it was with infinite regret and pain that I was forced to come to the conclusion, that the interior of this vast country is a marsh and uninhabitable ". Oxley resolved to turn back and after resting for two days Oxley’s party began to retrace their steps along the Lachlan River. They left the Lachlan up-stream of the present site of Lake Cargelligo and crossed to the Bogan River and then across to the upper waters of the Macquarie, which they followed back to Bathurst (arriving on 29 August 1817).[3]
[edit] Macquarie River expedition
Oxley travelled to Dubbo on June 12, 1818. He wrote that he had passed that day 'over a very beautiful country, thinly wooded and apparently safe from the highest floods...'
Later in 1818 Oxley and his men explored the Macquarie River at length before turning east. On August 26, 1818 they climbed a hill and saw before them rich, fertile plains, which they named the Liverpool Plains. Continuing east, they discovered the Peel River, near the present site of Tamworth. Continuing further east they crossed the Great Dividing Range and came upon the Hastings River. Following it to its mouth, they discovered that it flowed into the sea at a spot which they named Port Macquarie.
In 1819 Oxley sailed to Jervis Bay but found it unsuitable for settlement.
In 1823 Oxley set out northwards along the coastline, in the cutter Mermaid to explore Port Curtis (the site of Gladstone) and Moreton Bay. He continued to explore the region, which is now known as South East Queensland.
In 1824 Oxley, accompanied by Allan Cunningham, discovered the Brisbane River and Bremer River on Moreton Bay, which has since developed into the city of Brisbane.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted him 600 acres (243 ha) near Camden in 1810, which he increased to 1000 acres (405 ha) in 1815. He named this property Kirkam and raised and bred sheep. He was also briefly a director of the Bank of New South Wales. He was one of five members of the original New South Wales Legislative Council in 1824, but was not reappointed when the council was reconstituted in 1825. Oxley had two sons with Emma Norton (1798-1885), whom he married in 1821 and earlier two daughters by Charlotte Thorpe and one by Elizabeth Marnon.
The Oxley Highway in New South Wales, Oxley Island on the north coast of New South Wales, the Federal electorate of Oxley (Queensland), the New South Wales Electoral district of Oxley, the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and the suburbs of Oxley, Queensland and Oxley, Australian Capital Territory are named after Oxley. The John Oxley Library, part of the State Library of Queensland, is dedicated to preserving and making available Queensland's documentary history.
[edit] References
- ^ Serle, op. cit.
- ^ Serle, op. cit.
- ^ ‘Journal of an Expedition in Australia – Part 1’, Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales by John Oxley.
[edit] External links
- Works by John Oxley at Project Gutenberg
- Serle, Percival. (1949). "Oxley, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
- Online edition of his writing
- Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
[edit] Further reading
Johnson, Richard, The Search for the Inland Sea: John Oxley, Explorer, 1783-1828, Melbourne University Press, 2001.
