4. Blaxland, Went-worth and Lawson--'The Crossing'--1813

Young Gregory Blaxland (1778-1853)--it is generally conceded that he led the crossing party. They left  his farm  at Eastern Creek, St. Marys, on May 11th, 1813, and Blaxland kept a journal of the expedition.

Overall,  it can hardly be disputed that Gregory Blaxland, William Wentworth and Lieutenant William Lawson found the most direct, spectacularly scenic and convenient route west to what seemed to be fine grazing land. Maisie Lupton picks up their progress...

In 1813, ‘travelling with four servants, five dogs and four horses loaded with provisions and ammunitions,’ Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth made their historic crossing of the Blue Mountains and although it is difficult to be certain of the exact location, the most recent information states that their first camp in the mountains, on May 12^th, was approximately midway between the modern railway stations of Warrimoo and Valley Heights. (Previously, it was thought to have been near the ‘old’ Glenbrook railway station.) The place where they camped later became known as Black Log Hollow. Teamsters travelling to and from the west used to gather and light their fires at the base of a huge tree which eventually died. The blackened trunk became a well-known landmark. [1]

In this year of the Bicentenary of the Crossing (2013), the campsites on the first 3 days remain in some dispute. It is more likely that the campsite for the night of May 12th was at (present day) Glenbrook Lagoon, which subsequently became a 'first stop' landmark and was fairly widely known, even then, as a reliable watering and grazing spot. On the following day (May 13th), the party journeyed through bushland that is now the town of Warrimoo on a path that closely equates with today’s Great Western Highway. Blaxland wrote they had travelled:

...about a Mile and Came into a large tract of forest land rather Hilly they (Blaxland wrote in the 3rd Person--ed) computed it at two thousand acres, the grass and timber tolerably good...they found a tract Marked by an European (Dawes, Hocking, or Wilson?--ed) by cutting the Bark of the Trees and several native huts at different places when they had proceeded about two Miles their course was stopped by a Brush much thicker than they had met before...[2]

Most of the early explorers of this area seem to agree that the Warrimoo/Valley Heights/Sun Valley section is clearer and higher than the thicker bush that follows. It is possible to see Mt. Hay from Warrimoo, but then there is a dip in the ridge plateau that takes one down into moister soil and denser "brush". There is plenty of evidence--the 'several native huts' mentioned--to support the probability of consistent Darug occupation of the district around Warrimoo/Long Angle Gully/Sun Valley on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872) at the height of his political power--neither he nor Blaxland took up the 1,000 acre Land Grant provided by Macquarie, although he pursued an influential political career as an advocate for NSW independence

Another very interesting revelation regarding Aboriginal presence comes in Blaxland's journal for the 21st May. It doesn't come in the main text, but as a footnote. Blaxland often refers to the dogs' barking and disturbances of the horses at night, and there appears to be some unwillingness to go and check these disruptions in the dark. On this occasion they "heard something run through the brush very distinctly" and they "...called the dogs back supposing it was one of the Horses got loose."[3]

Blaxland's footnote to this incident is rather stunning: "This night we were in the greatest danger, as there is little doubt that the Natives had followed their (the explorers'--ed) track and advanced on them in the Night, intending to have speared them by the light of the fire, which is their custom."[4]

Why is this dramatic moment left as a footnote? There appears to be some degree of conscious effort on the part of almost all the early explorers, except perhaps Barallier, to minimise the presence and role of Aboriginal people throughout this period of contact in the Mountains. Was it simply a matter of British bravado or modesty in the face of possible conflict or confrontation, or was there rather a deliberate policy of presenting the original occupants of the land as peacefully acquiescent, or at least not noticeable?

There is significant evidence to suggest that Governor Macquarie was not overly impressed with the report supplied by Messrs Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson. It was not a venture that he had clearly endorsed. It appears he was unconvinced of their success because, despite the fact that the worthy trio had blazed their trail across a direct ridge line and reached a view of substantially clear, grassy grazing land, there was still a line of Mountains (in fact, the ‘Dividing Range’) reported across a valley (the ‘Vale of Clwydd’).

At first, Macquarie took no direct action over the reports of Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson. It was a full six months before he directed his Assistant Surveyor General, George Evans, to follow the path blazed by them and confirm if anything of value lay further west. 

William Lawson (1774-1850) --took up his 1,000 acre Land Grant and was the first to drive his stock over Cox's road. Became one of the largest land holders in NSW but preferred to return to his property 'home' at Prospect.

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[1] LUPTON, Maisie, ibid., p11

[2] MACKANESS, G.,(ed) Fourteen Journeys Over the Blue Mountains Of New South Wales, Part 1 1813-1815, ‘Blaxland’s Journal’. Review Publications, Dubbo, 1950, p.11

[3] Ibid., p.15

[4] Ibid., p24

3. Francis Barallier 1773-1857

In 1802, Governor King commissioned a French “emissary”, Francis Barallier, to cross the Blue Mountains via the Cox’s River route, using two Aboriginal guides: Gogy and and Bungin. Barallier made his base camp at Nattai and proceeded inland. As they progressed, Barallier’s diary noted Gogy’s agitation and growing unease as the party ventured further into Gundungarra country. Finally they met a substantial gathering of Gundungarra people, purportedly led by a “chief” (Elder) called Goondel.

In his diary, Barallier made careful notes of his observations. In this context it is worth remembering George Caley’s testament that coastal Aborigines greatly feared these ‘Mountain Men’. Barallier observed one very significant difference in their appearance to the coastal Eora: they wore heavy possum cloaks, which they valued highly, preferring to keep them rather than take the iron axes proffered by the explorer. We might infer that Goondel and his band valued warmth and comfort above hunting and chopping. They seemed to have an abundance of the usual provisions, and Barallier watched them roast a ‘native dog’ (Dingo).

Barallier passed on gifts and good wishes from the Governor to Goondel, who appeared satisfied with the transactions, and with Barallier and Bungin themselves. So much so, that he was prepared to offer his daughter to Bungin for the purpose of marriage if he came to stay with his own band. But Gogy dreaded what was in store for him. Apparently he had killed a Gundungarra woman (Goondel’s sister?) sometime previously, and he was terrified of his fate. He begged Barallier to release him from his role as guide, so he could rapidly return to safety. At the same time, Bungin asked leave to marry Goondel’s daughter. Barallier consented to both requests.

A strange corollary of this situation was that Bungin soon returned to the explorer’s camp, saying that Goondel’s daughter did not want to go through with the marriage, and that she had taken off with Goondel in hot pursuit. What this did to relations with white people, Barallier was uncertain, but his decision was to proceed westwards with sufficient care so as to avoid the Gundungarra Elder.

Barallier passed by the location of what is now the ghost town of Yerranderie and ended his sojourn on the Bindook Highlands. He was significantly closer to the edge of the Great Dividing Range than Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson were some 11 years later, but his achievement was largely ignored by Governor King. Later, Barallier’s route was to become the Colong-Oberon stock route, along which a road once took traffic from Camden to Oberon, prior to the flooding of the Burragorang Valley by Warragamba Dam.

2. John Wilson 1770-1800

 John Wilson was an emancipated convict who actually chose to live with Aboriginal people in or near the ‘Mountains, on the Hawkesbury. He learned the languages and customs of his hosts, but maintained contact with colonial society, where he frequently spoke of knowing a way across the ‘Blue Mountains’, as it was (already) commonly known. Even then, it was widely rumoured that Aboriginal people did, in fact, use a route across these mountains. Subsequently it has been claimed that there were two routes used by them: the “Bilpin Ridge” path, no doubt following the current “Bell’s Line of Road”, and the “Cox’s River” route, entered via the Burragorang Valley.

When Wilson was finally commissioned by Governor Hunter to verify his claims, in 1798, he took a party of soldiers and convicts on a south-westerly route, presumably seeking the Cox’s River option. For some reason, the party was spooked, and several soldiers and convicts returned, leaving a small group of three men only. The official reason given was that the task of exploration was too much hard work, but it is more likely that fear dominated their judgement.

It is feasible that the Gundungarra either barred or misled Wilson, who may not have followed proper custom, so that he took a path much further to the south, travelling via present–day Bargo/Avon country, on to Berrima and Mittagong, stopping just 12 kilometres north of the contemporary city of Goulburn. Clearly, Wilson had found a relatively easy, fertile, though somewhat roundabout way across the Great Dividing Range, but he received no accolades from the Governor, and minimal effort was made to follow up on his achievement.

John Wilson continued to live a life close to Aboriginal mores, but he was careless in his relationships with Indigenous women. This ultimately caused his death by spearing shortly after his return to the Hawkesbury. He was 30 years of age.

Explorers--1. Lt. William Dawes



Marine Lieutenant William Dawes, the first (documented) European to have set foot in Warrimoo--December 1789



The first (documented) white person to set foot in the vicinity of Warrimoo was Marine Lieutenant William Dawes, who had been sent to New South Wales to assist the military keep order in 1788. He was a cultured man, who took an avid interest in astronomy (the telescope at Dawes Point) and in the local Indigenous people and their languages. So much so, that when Pemulwuy killed Governor Phillip’s gamekeeper and the Governor ordered him to go on a punitive expedition against the natives, Dawes refused to go. He argued that the gamekeeper, John MacIntyre, had caused provocation to Aboriginal people around the harbour, and may have deserved his fate. In the event, Dawes was prevailed upon to go on the expedition, which proved utterly fruitless. Nevertheless, the bad blood this whole incident brought between Dawes and the Governor ultimately led to his leaving the colony in December, 1791.

  

However, two years earlier this same William Dawes, along with Watkin Tench, had discovered the Nepean River and with a small party and minimal provisions, Dawes determined to explore further westward. In December 1789, he commenced his journey:

To the ‘line of march’. The first day he headed due west from Emu Ford to the crest of the first ridge, in the vicinity of Mt. Riverview, and from here had a direct view of ‘Round Hill’ (Mt. Hay).

Dawes moved his ‘line of march’ to a straight traverse and made a bee line for Round Hill crossing the now line of highway just near the Sydney side of Warrimoo. [1]

In other words, Dawes scaled the escarpment at present day Mt. Riverview and took a direct westerly march, keeping a mark on Mt. Hay directly ahead. This route misses the areas of Glenbrook and Blaxland entirely, but if such a forthright strategy was to continue, it was clear Dawes’ path would be an extraordinarily difficult one, obliging him and his party to climb and descend continuously.

Early Warrimoo historian, Maisie Lupton[2] continues the story...

...he would have passed by the foot of the ridge which is now Florabella Street on his unsuccessful trip to find a route across the Camarthen Mountains, as the Blue Mountains were then known. It is believed that his ‘line of march’ would have taken him along a course similar to that of the high tension electricity line which crosses the Highway, near the (now defunct) Westward Ho Cafe, and continues across the gullies and ridges in a westerly direction...

 

Dawes--same picture, reverse angle, in colour

 Dawes and his small party marched on, and most of the conjecture (Dawes did not keep a detailed diary--merely some trigonometric readings and his distance covered) has him stopping somewhere between Linden and Lawson because provisions began to run low and exhaustion had set in. More recent examination of his readings, however, concede that his party had, in fact, covered the necessary distance to Mt. Hay before turning back.

The number of subsequent attempts to cross the Blue Mountains is now legion: Paterson, Bass, Everingham, Wilson, Barallier and Caley to name the most prominent. It is worth noting the attempts of Francis Barallier and John Wilson, because they illustrate something of the knowledge and influence of the Darug and Gundungarra peoples at the time.

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[1] PAISH, Lindsay, Heritage, Newsletter of the Blue Mountains Association of Cultural Heritage, issue #10, July-August 2010, p1

[2] LUPTON, Maisie et al, Warrimoo Public School, The First Twenty-Five Years, magazine published by Warrimoo Public School Anniversary Committee, 1987, p.11

Pre-Colonial

Pre-Settlement

It is no accident that our small township of Warrimoo is divided in two: a “North Side” and a “South Side”. Both the Great Western Highway and the Railway line adjoin here on a narrow ridge. On one side, water run-offs descend in small southerly running rivulets behind our streets to join Florabella Creek, which in turn flows into Glenbrook Creek, and thence, to the East, into the Nepean River.

On the Northern slope a variety of channels likewise flow into Fitzgeralds Creek, which comes from Sun Valley, and Cripple Creek, whose source begins near the Attunga Road Tip. Both merge before flowing eastwards into the Nepean River. There are a number of trails to access these waterways, the most notable being the track behind Warrimoo Oval.

The bushland and rock formations around these features, still remaining as they were for thousands of years, supply us with abundant evidence of Indigenous life in the area long before Europeans discovered it. If one looks carefully enough, there are rock engravings, axe-grinding grooves, camp-fire remains, and in sheltered sites, ochre paintings, created by clans of the Darug people who occupied this place for millenia.

'Red Hands Cave' at Glenbrook--such sites do exist in Warrimoo, but they must be found in sheltered sites, and they need protection against vandalism. Many have already been ruined

An archaeological site established at the junction of Fitzgeralds Creek and the Nepean River, and supervised by Father Eugene Stockton throughout the 1980's, has confirmed Indigenous occupation of this vicinity for at least 40,000 years. This occupation has been continuous. Not many regions in Australia can claim such clear and unequivocal evidence of their local people's presence.

Darug groups moved unhindered along well-worn paths beside the waterways and hunted, fished, gathered and camped at designated places throughout the well-stocked bush. It is unlikely that any patch of earth was not trod by Aboriginal feet at some time in the previous thousands of years. Fire was used extensively, and most likely transported from site to site. White explorers always noted the widespread plumes of smoke as they ventured into the ‘Mountains.

Prior to European settlement, it appears that there was no shortage of cleared spaces at various spots throughout the bushland, rather like Sun Valley and Euroka today. These were most probably cleared by ‘firestick farming’ techniques where, if conditions were right, bush and scrub were set alight and burned to encourage new shoots of young green grass, and thus grazing by mobs of wallaby and ‘roo.

The Freycinet (French) expedition's view of two Darug ('Springwood') men, Hara-o and Karaora-drawn by the artist Pellion in 1819

Cultural activities and ritual were an integral part of life, as they were in all parts of Australia. Stockton's analysis of the density and range of occupation sites in Sun Valley point to the possibility of this well-watered place once being a major Corroboree site, where large numbers of Darug, and feasibly other language groups as well, gathered to celebrate important ceremonies, feast, and exchange goods.

Welcome to the Warrimoo History Blog

Welcome to the Warrimoo History Blogspot. At the moment it is me, Bob Treasure, and Evelyn Richardson, who share a love of Warrimoo and an avid interest in its history. Warrimoo is a unique place. It is different from the opulent “Cafe-culture” well-being of Glenbrook or the bustling shopping centres of Blaxland or Springwood—it has a calm, democratic, civic-minded, mutually supportive community atmosphere. Its modest but varied domestic architecture portrays decades of growth and opportunity, especially for ordinary Australian families seeking to live within or beside native Australian flora and fauna, respecting the bushland around them. It is people that make Warrimoo’s unique character: a great place to live. They in turn are a reflection of those who have come before us, those who have set the parameters of Warrimoo’s amenities and community culture—this blogspot is dedicated to them.

Much work has already been done: the Luptons, long term residents of Warrimoo, and John Low from Springwood Library, set the ball in motion when a summary history of Warrimoo was written for the Warrimoo PS 25^th Anniversary Magazine. The research work done by Kate Matthew and especially Evelyn Richardson under the aegis of the Warrimoo Village Green (2007-09) is simply too valuable not to be published, so as time goes on Evelyn will be uploading data, images and findings already assembled on the history of our wonderful local community. We trust you will find these fascinating.

History is an organic thing. It is not fixed nor set in concrete. It depends on constant “further discovery”, mistakes, re-interpretation and wide participation to really work as it should, as a vital, stimulating and exciting science, relevant to all. So please, fellow Warrimooians, help us compile the most brilliant local history possible. Send in your own stories, family adventures, observations, memories, photos and memorabilia to<warrimoohistory@gmail.com>. Give us your views, your criticisms, your interpretations and your knowledge. Pass on your interest to others and help us build a full picture of Warrimoo’s past, so that our future residents better understand their own special “place” in the world.  

This Blog is supported by the Warrimoo Citizens Association.