Early Attempts to Cross the Blue Mountains
William Dawes - Henry Hacking - George Bass - Francis Barrallier - George Caley - Blaxland, Lawson, Wentworth
Until 1813 the Blue Mountains prevented any westward extension of the
settlement. Early explorers soon reached the foothills that lie to the west of
the Nepean River, but there were halted by stony ridges and gorges.
First Attempts. William Dawes in December l789, with George Johnston and Lowes, crossed the Nepean River and penetrated about 24 kilometres in three days, reaching a hill which was named Mount Twiss.
In August 1794 Henry Hacking set off with companions, determined to cross the mountains. A week later these men returned with an account of their having penetrated 30 kilometres farther inland than any other European. Hacking reported that when he halted and determined to return, he still had in view before him the same inaccessible kind of country.
In June 1796 George Bass and two companions attempted to round the mountains to the westward, but were blocked by a further range. At a later date Bass stated that they had experienced 15 days of unparalleled fatigue and danger, and that space between the first and the distant range presented "obstacles and dangers equally great with those in our rear".
Francis Barrallier made two expeditions into the interior. During the first journey, which lasted about a fortnight, he penetrated about 80 kilometres south-west from Prospect Hill and discovered a new river. The second expedition crossed the Nepean River on 6 November 1802 and in seven weeks travelled about 225 kilometres from Parramatta. Barrallier wrote a full report and prepared a chart of his exploration. A week later he again set out and again was stopped by precipitous cliffs about 26 kilometres in a direct line southerly from Jenolan Caves.
In 1804 George Caley made an attempt to cross the Blue Mountains in a westerly direction from Prospect. After undergoing great fatigue he reached Mount Banks 12 days out from Richmond Hill, only to find an "inaccessible valley" in front of him.
Blaxland, Lawson, Wentworth. In 1812 a drought forced on Lachlan Macquarie, then Governor, the necessity of securing fresh pastures for the colony's flocks.
In 1810 Gregory Blaxland had made two excursions up the Warragamba River, and as a result of those explorations he is said to have evolved the theory that the range might be crossed by moving along the watershed between the Warragamba and the Grose rivers. With the assistance and approval of Macquarie an expedition was equipped, and Blaxland, in partnership with Lieutenant William Lawson (an experienced surveyor) and William Charles Wentworth, and accompanied by four convicts, set out from South Creek on 11 May 1813.
The party crossed the Nepean at Emu Island and began the ascent of the first ridge. Travelling sometimes 3 kilometres and occasionally 8 kilometres a day. They forced their way through very heavy country, always heading the gullies and clinging to the ridge-tops. On 28 May, having unconsciously diverged from the central ridge, they found themselves at the end of a spur, since called Mount York, and with great difficulty brought their horses down the precipitous sides to a well-watered valley that gave prospect of good pasture-land. The terminal point of their outward journey was Mount Blaxland, just across a stream that afterwards became known as Cox River.
They had, in fact not crossed the main range at all - that was left for Evans to do - but they had found a way through the remarkable obstacle presented by the Blue Mountains. Theirs was the only possible solution: and later, by following only the ridges, the main range could be, and was, crossed.