Hughenden & Beyond

By Beryl Hunter

Spending her life in Queensland's North West, Beryl has experienced rural floods, fires, droughts and other difficulties that face Australia's inland. When she married Stuart Hunter and moved to life "on the land" she found she had stepped on a pathway that included raising six children, teaching school lessons, assisting with station jobs and serv

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publicious Book Publishing
• Release date: Feb 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9780992433512

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Hughenden & Beyond is a story that engages the vast history of Australia and tells the story of the Europeans who sought, found and then settled, explored and developed this land beneath the Southern Cross.

The material in this book combines both research and known facts. It looks at how our pioneers and explorers dealt with the terrors, wonders and challenges of this continent whilst getting on with life and endeavouring to get along with each other.

Excited by the exploring itch, pioneers ventured inland to unravel the secrets of the land… some succeeded whilst others were lost to an unknown fate and many pioneering pastoralists were financially ruined due to fluctuating markets, flood, fire or drought.

Although the story is threaded with the lives and deeds of explorers and pioneers, its climax is the settlement of Hughenden beyond the Great Dividing Range in North Western Queensland and the movement of pioneers as they trekked into the unknown, westward down the winding Flinders River.

It is due to the tireless and brave endeavours of these pioneers and the vision and cooperation of so many that this land was developed and a nation was forged!

SECTION 1

EXPLORATION

DISCOVERY

&

SETTLEMENT

IN DAYS OF YORE MANY SAILING SHIPS PUT TO SEA ON VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION, TRADE AND DISCOVERY, BUT IT WAS CAPTAIN COOK’S EXPEDITIONS THAT LED TO THE SETTLING OF AUSTRALIA.

World Map – 1570. Ask map image.

SOUTH LAND

When scholars of the old world

Learnt the world was round

They thought, to balance north,

There must be southern ground.

Just to balance northern land

A south land there must be.

So they set to find a land mass

In the rolling southern sea.

‘Twas far and wide across the seas

Sailors searched for southern sand.

And many ships met Waterloo

As they sought the foreign land.

Still sailors crossed the oceans wide

And found the old mysterious land.

Untrodden by the hoof of stock –

A land ringed by golden sand.

Land beneath the Southern Cross

And no matter where I roam

Forever will my heart dwell in

This Australia I call home!

Beryl Hunter

CONTENTS

SOUTH LAND

EXPLORATION

WESTWARD HO

BEYOND THE RANGE

PIONEERS

DEVLIN

HENRY

SETTLEMENT

WATER

FLINDERS RIVER

VOYAGES TO THE SOUTH LAND

The discovery of Australia by Europeans is shrouded in mystery. Early European accounts of wider horizons, strange isles and mysterious coastlines in the southern hemisphere may have originally been based on the legends of fishermen and sailors, which may have seemed improbable to land lubbers of that day.

Historical writings suggest that Aristotle supported the notion of Terra Australis, which in Latin means land of the south. An account by the Roman writer Pliny in 70 AD mentioned a sailor driven by a fierce wind to a great land. Some sources suggest that the Greek writer Lucian described the kangaroo in 150 AD but adds that he knew it must all be a lie since no such animal could possibly exist. Such were the mysteries of the South Land.

Even though we don’t know when man first found this land, it’s believed Aborigines came to Australia from other shores and settled here in their far-off Dreamtime. There have also been suggestions of Egyptian habitation, plus rumour of Polynesian settlements on our shores and of sailors who glimpsed the Great South Land. What does seems probable is that Asians knew of its existence long before Europeans, and that they visited these shores for trade; however, the written history of Australia must begin with salvaged Asian and European writings.

In his book, 1421 – The Year China Discovered the World, Gavin Menzies relates that during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Zhu Di a Chinese fleet circled the world on a voyage of discovery and trading. Menzies believes that, during the voyage, they discovered Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand between the years 1421–23. He suggests that charts made during the voyage were later used by European explorers.

The flagship of Admiral Zheug He (1371-1435).

Perhaps, in the minds of Europeans, the existence of a southern continent began as an educated guess based on reason. Pythagoras believed a southern continent was a mathematical necessity in the equilibrium of a perfectly spherical world.¹ European history dating back many centuries reveals navigators knew of the southern land mass, and were documenting these new territories. History also reveals that Leif Eriksson and his Vikings arrived at Newfoundland around the year 1,000 AD. Driven by a desire to expand on the knowledge of the known world, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain provided the Genoan-born explorer Christopher Columbus with ships to sail west on a mission of discovery. Although Columbus’ expedition discovered a New World in 1492, neither he nor the Vikings were on a course that would lead to the discovery of the elusive South Land.

In order to share future discoveries in a friendly manner between Spain and Portugal — the great sea powers of the day — Pope Alexander VI established a north–south line of demarcation in 1493. The purpose for that line was to allow Portugal to claim all territories east of the Pope’s line, whilst Spain would have power over territories west of the line.²

Neither Don Juan II of Portugal nor the King and Queen of Spain were satisfied with the Papal Plan, so together made their own treaty.³ Under the Royal Treaty of Spain and Portugal the Pacific Ocean, the ocean described by Balboa the Spanish explorer in 1513 as the calm ocean, would become a realm for Spanish seafarers. Encyclopaedia Britannica states that Portugal felt disadvantaged by the new plan so, by mutual agreement with Spain, the line was moved to allow Portugal to include the Brazilian coast in its claims. Had that plan been enacted then Portugal and Spain may well have shared possession of Australia.

In the latter part of 1519 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer in the service of the Spanish king, sailed west from Seville to find an easier route to the Spice Islands. Magellan commanded five ships; the Conception, the San Antonio, the Santiago, the Trinidad, and the Victoria. Unfortunately, Magellan was killed on the voyage, whilst four ships and many sailors were also lost, but in 1521 the Victoria returned to Spain’s Seville harbor and history credits the Victoria with being the first ship to circle the globe. The voyage of the Victoria opened a new dimension of knowledge for Spain and the world by broadening then known horizons.

Explorer and geologist, Robert Logan Jack (1845–1921), writing of that voyage in his book Northmost Australia, stated,

"The Victoria sailed via the Moluccas to Timor. Thence she went south-westward till certain islands were discovered under the Tropic of Capricorn. As this land, according to Cano [Captain Juan Sebastian del Cano], was only 100 leagues [50⁰ 43’] from Timor, it is more likely to be the continent of Australia [between Onslow and Carnarvon] than Madagascar, as has been assumed by some writers."⁴

The Victoria of Magellan’s fleet was a type of Spanish caravel ship.

It has been inferred by Collingridge, in Discovery of Australia, that the Portuguese had sketched the western coast of Australia and that the Spanish had mapped the east coast prior to 1530. Such suggestions are supported by a geographical volume published in 1593 by the Dutchman Cornelius de Jode called Speculum Orbis Terrae. It’s said that this early book had an illustration of an animal with a likeness to the kangaroo. Because the kangaroo is unique to Australia, such an illustration suggests contact between Australia and Europe had been established prior to 1593.

Cornelis Wyfliet’s English edition of Descriptions Ptolemica Augmentum (1597) strengthens the belief that Australia was known by stating,

The Australis Terra is the most southern of all lands. Its shores are hitherto little known, since, after one voyage and another, that route has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited, unless sailors are driven there by storms. ⁵

Early writings suggest that European discoveries were jealously guarded. So much so that global positions and land descriptions were deliberately misrepresented on maps with the purpose of discouraging others learning of any new found horizons. In spite of this, Wytfliet’s map of 1597 is reported to have a notation stating that Terra Australis is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait.⁶

During the early seventeenth century, Spanish navigators Pedro Fernandez de Quiros and Luis Vaez de Torres embarked on a mission of discovery. The book Northmost Australia by Robert Logan Jack states that de Quiros, a Portuguese by birth, had sailed with the Spanish navigator Mendana, and that he successfully petitioned King Philip of Spain to grant him ships and men so that he might discover a newer world than that of Columbus.

Successful in his application to the King, De Quiros discovered a large island and thought he’d found the elusive southern continent, and so named it La Australia del Espiritu Santo (Southland of the Holy Spirit). Later, when Cook sailed into those waters he named the collection of islands New Hebrides. Today we know they make up Vanuatu. Although de Quiros acknowledged his error, he remained convinced that there was a southern continent.⁷

In his book, España y Australia: Cinco siglos de historia, Carlos M. Fernandez-Shaw, former Spanish Ambassador to Australia, wrote, De Quiros, commanding ships and three hundred sailors, left the Peruvian port of Callao accompanied by Luis Vaez Torres on December 21st 1605 with the hope of finding the southern continent that existed in the minds of geographers.

Carlos continued,

"After five months sailing they arrived at La Australia del Espiritu Santo [now Vanuatu] but were later separated by a storm after which Quiros sailed back to Mexico. Unsuccessfully searching for Quiros, Torres set sail for the Philippines and sighted the top end of Australia. The captain who accompanied Torres, Diego de Prado y Tovar, produced the maps and drawings that documented these discoveries and in 1613, in Goa, he sent these to Philip III, the King of Spain. Today they are held in the Archive General de Siannas in Spain."

Commanding a voyage set on a course to discover the elusive south land, but cheated by circumstances beyond his control, de Quiros died in 1614 and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Panama. The Hon. Andrew Garran M.A., L.L.D., M.L.C. wrote of de Quiros in the highest esteem when he penned, Don Pedro Fernandez de Quiros was ranked by the Spaniards as second only to the great Columbus. ⁸

Dutch knowledge of Australia probably began with their vessels trading between Europe and Indonesia, then known as the Spice Islands. Perhaps the earliest Dutch ship to visit these shores was the Duyfken (Dove) which sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606 to replenish the ship’s fresh water. The landing party was met by hostile natives so they named the place Cape Turnagain or Cape Keerweer.

In 1616, Dirk Hertzog, a sea captain with the Dutch East India Company, touched our western shore and charted the coastline to 22⁰ south latitude. Also in 1616, the Dutch seaman Theodoric Hertoge sailed along our western coast between 28⁰ S. and the Tropic of Capricorn. Hertoge called it Endracht’s Land (Country of Concord); this was also the name of his ship. In 1618 the Dutchman Zeachen sailed the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and in 1619 von Edels sailed the waters off our western shores.

The Dutch ship Leeuwin reached the southern end of the western coast in 1622 and named it Leeuwin Land (Lioness Land).⁹ Five years after the Leeuwin, Peter van Nuyts sailed along the southern coast from Cape Leeuwin and almost reached Spencers Gulf. A further visit to Australia was made by the Dutch Commodore de Witt in 1628.¹⁰

The Gulf of Carpentaria immortalises the name of the Dutch General, Pieter Carpenter, who originally explored the Gulf with tolerable accuracy. Following Carpenter into the waters of Australia’s largest gulf was Jan Carstenszoon, commander of the Pera, who, on May 8, 1632, named the Coen River on Cape York Peninsula.¹¹ Then, on August 14, 1642 the Dutchman Abel Jansen Tasman sailed forth to unravel the mysteries of Terra Australis. Tasman’s historic voyage bypassed the Australian mainland but led to the discovery of Van Diemen’s Land, later to be re-named Tasmania. Whilst in Tasmanian waters, Tasman was buffeted by such strong winds that he named the location Storm Bay. On returning to Holland his discovery was held in such high esteem that a copy of his chart was laid in mosaic-work on the floor of the town hall in Amsterdam.¹²

On January 4, 1688 the pirate ship Cygnet with Captain Swan in command sailed into a Western Australian inlet to effect repairs to his ship. Our shore was to be home to the crew for ten weeks and, as water could not be found, the sailors dug a well to secure a water supply. On board the Cygnet was Swan’s friend, the buccaneer William Dampier, who was destined to cement his name in Australian history. Whilst ship’s carpenters repaired the vessel, Dampier studied this new countryside and when he returned to England he published his findings of several volumes.¹³

Whilst searching along the western coast in 1696 for the lost Dutch ship Ridderschap van Holland, Commander Willem de Vlamingh named the Swan River due to the numerous black swans in the vicinity. Although he landed several times along the coast and searched the Swan River, no traces of the ship or men were found. Vlamingh set sail away from this southern continent.

Dutch names sprinkled along Australian shores are reminders that long-forgotten Dutch seamen once frequented the seas of this land beneath the Southern Cross. Sailors from the land of the tulip mapped a great deal of our northern and western coastline, plus some of the southern shore of this land they called New Holland. As our shores were explored so extensively by Dutch ships, it seems a mystery that Holland did not take possession of the land. A Swiss named J Purry of the East India Company suggested a Dutch settlement be made but, probably because trade was not a possibility, no known action was taken.¹⁴

It is noteworthy to record that, on his exploring expedition across Australia, John McKinlay sketched Aboriginal men who wore beards plucked to resemble a style worn by the Dutchmen of that era. Therefore it is not unthinkable that some Dutch sailors, shipwrecked on the coast of these shores, had survived and integrated with local inhabitants so that some Aboriginal children may have had Dutch blood flowing in their veins.

The English King, William III, was so impressed with Dampier’s volumes on Australia’s west coast that he provided Dampier with the Roebuck to ascertain if New Holland was a continent or an archipelago. And so, on August 1, 1699 Dampier again sighted the western coast of Australia. The Roebuck then sailed south for a thousand miles, often putting to shore, but only once was water found. Unable to see the future and unimpressed by what he saw, Dampier considered he’d sighted the most desolate place on earth.¹⁵

Many sailors may have touched these southern shores and returned to their home port, whilst others may have been lost at sea or shipwrecked on some distant shore in their quest to discover this distant southern land.

Whatever the happenings, this land beneath the Southern Cross slumbered on, unchallenged by development, until Cook made this well-known recording in his journal of April 20, 1770, At daylight Lieutenant Hicks saw land: sloping hills covered in trees and bushes, but interspersed with sand. And so it was that Captain James Cook took possession of this land beneath the Southern Cross for King George lll of Great Britain on August 22, 1770. Thus, this island continent became an English dominion and part of a commonwealth, of which, for a considerable time in history, it was true to say… the sun never set on the kingdom of the British Empire!

* * *

Ref. 1: In A Greater Than Solomon Here, Sr. Clair O’Brien, on pages 13 and 14, summarises some of the theories of the unknown southern land, cited by C. Jack-Hilton in Discovery of the Solomon Islands, who saw it as a necessary mathematical equation.

Ref. 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14: Northmost Australia by Robert Logan Jack.

Ref. 5, 6: Australia, the First Hundred Years.

Ref. 8, 10, 11: English Cyclopaedia of Geography.

Ref. 15: Richardson’s Tropical Encyclopaedia.

EXPLORATION

England’s decision to settle the land it called New South Wales as a penal colony was due, in part, to Richard Henry Lee moving in the American Congress that, These united Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states. The Declaration of Independence followed and was adopted on July 4, 1774.¹

The American War of Independence gave the Yankees victory over the Red Coats (British). Therefore, when the sun rose on the newly independent nation, George Washington, commander-in-chief of the armies of the rebelling colonies, was declared the first President of the United States of America. Although the peace treaty with the British was not signed until 1783, deportation of British prisoners to the American colonies was no longer possible.²

Overflowing English jails hastened the decision to deport prisoners to this far-flung colony. Vice-Admiral Arthur Phillip was honoured with command of the First Fleet to sail to New South Wales, as Australia was then known, and to establish a British settlement. On January 26, 1788, about 800 convicts, some being held in chains, plus officers, 200 marines, sheep, cattle, horses and an assortment of other animals were landed on the shores of Terra Australis. Phillip named the new settlement Sydney. With establishment of the administration effected, Vice-Admiral Arthur Phillip became the first Governor of the new dominion.

The arrival of the First Fleet to Australia under command of Captain Arthur Phillip. NLA pic an7891482-v.

For three decades the colony was confined to the narrow coastal plain by ranges that seemed impassable. A major step in the stairway of development came in 1813 when a pass was found over the Blue Mountains. The cloven-hoofed animals then moved west to the richer pastures of the inland where their numbers rapidly increased. As sheep adapted well on the new pasture the distinctive Australian Merino was improved upon. It was soon said that Australia rode on the back of the golden fleece (wool). With the discovery of gold and its newfound wealth, an influx of