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Map of Bogan River and Macquarie River1847

by Mitchell, Thomas Sir

On 9 March 1835, Mitchell's second expedition aimed to trace the River Darling and discover whether it flowed into the Murray River. With James Larmer as assistant-surveyor, botanist Richard Cunningham and twenty other men, the party departed Parramatta and travelled along the Great West Road, heading for Boree station, west of Orange. This route took them north-west of the Bogan River. It was at this point, in April that botanist Cunningham wandered away from the main group and became lost. It was not until much later that it was discovered that he had been killed by local Aboriginal people. This second expedition along the Darling River resulted in further tragedies resulting from mis-understandings and clashes between some of Mitchell's men and the local Aboriginals on 11 July.