Macquarie's crossing
Governor Macquarie had encouraged Blaxland's expedition to find a passage over the Blue Mountains. On the explorers' return, he lost no time in sending the assistant surveyor-general, George William Evans (1775-1852), to investigate building a road over the mountains.
Evans set out to retrace the explorers' trail in November 1813. After surveying the road, he pushed on into the grassy plains beyond the mountains and discovered the Macquarie and Lachlan Rivers. The Governor handed the job of building the road to William Cox who, with a team of convict workers completed the task in less than six months.
Get the latest Flash player to view this interactive content.
Eager to see the new territory with his own eyes, Macquarie organised an excursion over the Blue Mountains to inspect the road and see the land beyond the mountains for himself.
On 25 April 1815, the Governor and Mrs Macquarie left Sydney with a group of 50 people including William Cox, the Surveyor-General John Oxley, Major Henry Colden Antill, Macquarie's aide de camp, and John William Lewin, the artist who was to make a visual record of the excursion.
The vice-regal couple travelled by carriage, stopping for lunch at Parramatta and staying overnight at the King family's farm at South Creek. They crossed the Nepean River at 11am the next day and began the climb to their first campsite. This was named 'Spring Wood' by the Governor.
As they travelled over the mountains, the party witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by the road builders, and the breathtaking grandeur of the scenery. Descending into the grassy plains on the western side of the mountains, they camped on the banks of the Macquarie River for a week during which time the Governor selected a suitable site for the erection of a town to be named Bathurst. The party then retraced their route, returning to Sydney on 19 May, 1815.
Major Antill and Mr Lewin's bargain
Before leaving Sydney, Major Henry Antill (1779-1852) and John Lewin (1770-1819) had made a gentleman's agreement. Both agreed that their individual record of such an historic crossing would benefit from a collaboration.
It was agreed that Antill would provide Lewin with a copy of his journal in exchange for a set of Lewin's watercolour views.
Lewin's paintings trace the Governor's progression over the Blue Mountains to the Bathurst Plains, and operate like the snapshots of modern travellers. They capture previously unrecorded landscapes, and provide some wonderful behind-the-scene glimpses into the organisation needed for the excursion. Antill included a listing of the views in the back of his journal and made notes linking the views to his text.
Major Antill's journal, with its accompanying set of 15 views by Lewin, was presented to the Mitchell Library in 1937. They can once again be examined, side by side, as originally intended.
