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Period: to
First attempts
Attempts to cross the mountains lying to the west of Sydney had been made from 1790, by convicts seeking a way of escape and adventurers keen to explore the region. Most tried to follow the rivers upstream only to be stopped by rapids or sheer cliffs. Francis Barrallier (1773-1853), led two failed expeditions, and George Caley (1770-1829), botanist and plant collector to Sir Joseph Banks, went on regular collecting excursions into the Blue Mountains to gather natural history specimens. -
William Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872), son of D'Arcy Wentworth, was a locally-born European. Educated in England, he returned to the colony. In 1811, he was appointed Acting Provost Marshall by Governor Macquarie and granted 1750 acres on the Nepean River. A future barrister, author, and statesmen, Wentworth's youth and adventurous spirit made him an obvious choice for the expedition. -
William Lawson
William Lawson (1774-1850) had trained as a surveyor in England before joining the NSW Corps. He arrived in Sydney in 1799. By 1813, Lawson was an experienced colonial officer with lands at Prospect, NSW, when he accepted Blaxland's invitation to join the expedition. -
Gregory Blaxland
Gregory Blaxland (1778-1853) had arrived in NSW in 1805 and acquired land near Eastwood. Keen to find new pastureland for his sheep, Blaxland undertook several excursions to find the best method of crossing the mountains, before petitioning Governor Macquarie for permission to form an exploration party. -
Setting out
The party left from St Marys in western Sydney, on 11 May 1813 and crossed the Nepean River later that day. -
The Crossing
In May 1813, Gregory Blaxland (35), William Lawson (39) and William Charles Wentworth (21) set out with a plan to find a passage to the western plains by following a line of ridges that ran westward between two river valleys.
Included were 4 servants, 4 pack horses and 5
Also included were James Burne, a guide and kangaroo hunter, and Samuel Fairs, a convict who arrived in Australia in 1810. Two others, also thought to be convicts, remain unidentified. -
Springwood
The party rested for a day to water the horses after a steep ascent by a spring. -
Linden
Heavily forested, hard going -
Lawson
From Lawson's journal: "Good grazing land potentially. The ridge is quite wide and well grassed." -
Katoomba
"Stark beauty of cliffs. We worry that we will reach an end and our party will have to turn back" -
Mt York
From this point Blaxland declared there was enough forest or grassland "to support the stock of the colony for thirty years", while Lawson called it "the best watered Country of any I have seen in the Colony". The party then turned back, making the return journey in six days. -
A Remarkable Road
In 1814, William Cox, engineer, assembled a team of 30 convicts, 8 guards and 2 Aboriginal men, Colebee from the Boorooerongal Clan and Joe from the Mulgoa Clan to build a road across the Blue Mountains. He started at Emu Plains on the 18th July 1814.
In just four months the team had completed a road covering a distance of 47 miles to Mount York.
In just six months, Cox had crossed the Blue Mountains with a road of one hundred and one miles all the way to Bathurst. (The Bathurst Road).
