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Thu 18 Apr 1957 - Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW : 1882 - 1962)
Page 2 - Outline of History of Glenbrook District
Outline of History of Glenbrook
District
By
II. A. MeLEOD MORGAN
[Herewith we give the first
instalment of a fine address
given by Mr. McLeod Morgan,
honorary treasurer of the
Royal Australian Historical
Society, to a large audience in
Glenbrook School of Arts on
April 4.J
Very soon after the first fleet
had established the beginnings of
Australian settlement at Sydney
Cove, the high country to the
westward of the County of Cum
berland came under observation
from the elevated points around
Sydney Town. Governor Arthur
Phillip explored the surroundings
of the first settlement and from
the highlands to the north of
Sydney named Richmond Hill,
the Carmarthen and Lansdowne
Hills on 26th April, 1788. This is
recorded in the journal of Sur
geon White, who accompanied
him,
Rosehill developed, later be
coming the town (ultimately the
city) of Parramatta. The wes
tern barrier was viewed from
Prospect Hill, the Government
farm at Toongabbie was estab
lished. Settlement eventually
spread westward to Emu Plains,
virtually coming to a halt at the
foothills of the Blue Mountains
as they became popularly known,
rather than by the names which
Phillip had bestowed on them.
This serves to introduce the
general approach of habitation
and development of agriculture
towards Glenbrook, but whilst
this was in process, there were,
of course, spearhead attempts be
ing made to penetrate the Blue
Mountains themselves in order
to find out what lay beyond.
In December, 1789, Lieut.
Dawes of the Royal Marines, ac
companied by Lieut. Johnston
and Surgeon's mate, Lowes, as
cended Lapstone Hill after ford
ing the Nepean somewhere in
the vicinity of Bird's Eye Corner,
and penetrated westward as far
as a point which they named
Mount Twiss, which is approxi
mately north of Linden.
In August, 1794, Henry Hack
ing, Quartermaster of the "Siri
us", forced his way westward in
the same general line, but prob
ably got little, if any, further
westward that Dawes some five
years before him.
At the beginning of the nine
teenth century, George Caley, a
botanist under the patronage of
Sir Joseph Banks, made many
excursions from his home at
Parramatta, some of which can
be regarded as exploratory, in the
County of Cumberland and in
the foothills of the Blue Moun
tains, for the main purpose of
gathering natural history speci
mens. In November, 1804, Caley
made a gallant and hardy effort
io cross the Mountains north of
,he Grose Valley, but was forced
to turn back having attained the
summit of Mount Banks. His
lournal of this expedition and
jther travels are amongst the
records of the British Museum
(natural, history) and the speak
2i* is responsible for having the
!lrst microfilm copies brought to
Australia. There is little doubt
;hnt Caley often spent time in
;he foothills of the Blue Moun
tains, some of his recorded ex
peditions having led him to the
vicinity of Bent's Basin and Wal
lacia, and it is extremely likely
that he may have explored some
of the gorges near- Glenbrook
and perhaps further westward.
Settlement to the Penrith and
Emu Plains area had been devel
oping in the first decade of the
nineteenth century. Prospect,
was a centre of settlement, John
ston having been granted his
"King's Gift" at Horsley in re
cognition of his services in the
Castle Hill rebellion. Marsden
had his farm at St. Marys, and
Blaxland's farm was sited in the
same area.
In November, 1810, less than 12
months after his arrival in New
South Wales, Governor Mnn
quarie, accompanied by Gregory
Blaxland, ascended the Warra
gamba Gorge in boats, hoping to
And a passage through the
mountains, but was forced to re
turn to the plains. In the re
cently published book containing
the journals of Lachlan Mac
quarie, the Trustees of the Pub
lic Library of New South Wales
have made available to the
general public for the first time
these writings of Australia's
early outstanding governor, and
residents are recommended to
read the Governor's own account
of his journey up the gorge.
A little later, Blaxland made
another attempt along the south
bank of the Warragamba to
penetrate the mountains, but was
unsuccessful.
Nearly three years were to
pass, and at last the historic
crossing was effected by Gregory
Blaxland, William Lawson, and
William Charles Wentwortli, the
return trip to a point beyond
Mount York being made between
May 11, 1813 and June 6, 1813.
The entry in Blaxland's jour
nal of the crossing reads as fol
lows:
"Wednesday, May 12, 1813.
They proceeded on their journey
at nine o'clock in the morning,
when the heavy dew was well off
and ascended the first ridge of
the mountain, fell in with a large
lagoon of good water full of
very coarse rushes, saw the high
land of Grose head bearing north
by east about seven miles' dis
tant, they proceeded this day
about three miles and a quarter,
the land they passed over cover
ed with scrubby brush, very thick
at places, with most trees of
ordinary timber,' most parts of
the way deep rocky gullies on
either side of them. In the
evening they encamped at the
head of a deep gully."
On the instruction of the
Governor, George William Evans
surveyed the line made by the
three explorers, and carried the
line westward to the vicinity of
the present city of Bathurst. The
scene was now set to build a road
to open the western plains to the
sorely taxed County of Cumber
land.
(To be continued)