Blaxland, Blue Mountains City, Macquarie Federal District, New South Wales, Australia

Notes:
Blaxland is a town in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Blaxland is located 70 kilometres west of Sydney in the local government area of the City of Blue Mountains. It is at an altitude of 234 metres and borders the townships/suburbs of Glenbrook, Mount Riverview and Warrimoo.



Blaxland is named for Gregory Blaxland who along with William Lawson and William Wentworth, led the exploration that discovered a route over the Blue Mountains in 1813. Prior to 1879 the area was known as Wascoe.



The Pilgrim Inn was built c. 1825. It was a significant element in the area for some time, but eventually decayed. The remains, which are now adjacent to McDonald's, are heritage-listed.



The Rev. Joshua Hargrave became a major presence in the area in the early 20th. century, and a significant force in the growth of Blaxland as a village, especially South Blaxland. He built the first church in the area and, with his family and the Calver family, is associated with four homes that still survive: Tanfield in Hope Street, Menahne in Hope Street, Rosedale in View Street and Nardi in View Street. The homes are all heritage-listed.



1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains

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1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains, Australia



The 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains was the expedition led by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth, which became the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales by European settlers. The crossing enabled the settlers to access and use the land west of the mountains for farming, and made possible the establishment of Australia's first inland settlement at Bathurst.



Background

The European settlement at Sydney Cove, established in 1788 after the arrival of the First Fleet, grew rapidly.[4] By the early 19th century, the Blue Mountains had become a barrier to the expansion of the colony, which required more farming land to meet its needs, particularly after the droughts of 1812 and 1813.[4][5][6] The local indigenous people knew at least two routes by which to cross the mountains.[7] The first was along Bilpin Ridge, later followed by Archibald Bell with the assistance of the local Darug people (now the location of Bells Line of Road),[8] and the second was along Coxs River.[9] Until 1813 however, the settlers remained unaware of how to cross the mountains despite several attempts, including two by Blaxland himself.[4][10] Early in 1813 Blaxland, who wanted more grazing land, obtained the approval of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and approached Lawson and Wentworth to secure their participation in a new exploratory expedition following the mountain ridges.[4][11][12]



Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland was born Sunday, 17 June 1778 in Kent, England. He sailed for Australia on Wednesday, 1 September 1805 with his wife, three children, two servants, an overseer, a few sheep, seed, tools, groceries and clothing. When he reached Sydney he sold many of these items and made a profit which enabled him to buy eighty head of cattle so that he could breed cattle and sell the meat. He located 1,600 hectares of land that the government had promised to new settlers as well as forty convict servants and established his farm. He was also one of the first people to plant grapes in Australia and make wine, for which he was awarded a silver medal and later a gold one from the Royal Society of Arts, London.[12]



The town of Blaxland in the Blue Mountains is named after this man.



William Lawson

William Lawson was born in England where he later trained to become a surveyor. He then migrated to Sydney, Australia, arriving in year 1800. He was an officer in the New South Wales Corp and owned land where he then raised many cattle and sheep. He was invited to join the 1813 expedition with Gregory Blaxland.[13]



The town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains is also named after him.



William Charles Wentworth

William Charles Wentworth was born in Australia to his two Irish parents. In the year of 1802, he was sent to school in England and returned to Sydney in year 1810, where he worked for the governor, Lachlan Macquarie, and was given a land grant of 710 hectares(roughly the land size of two average family houses) on the Nepean River. The town of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains is named after him.





Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson led an expedition party, which included four servants, four pack horses and five dogs.[5] Two of the four men who assisted the party have been identified as James Burne (or Burnes), a guide and kangaroo hunter, and Samuel Fairs, a convict who arrived in Australia in 1810. The two others, also thought to be convicts, remain unidentified.



The party left from Blaxland's South Creek farm near the modern suburb of St Marys in western Sydney, on 11 May 1813 and crossed the Nepean River later that day. They made their way over the mountains, following the ridges, and completed the crossing in 21 days. The explorers' success has been attributed to their methodical approach[6] and decision to travel on the ridges instead of through the valleys.The three explorers and two of their servants would set out each day, leaving the other two men at their campsite, and mark out a trail, before turning back later in the day to cut a path for the horses and allow the rest of the party to progress.



The Departure and Crossing of the Blue Mountains

The group first saw the plains beyond the mountains from Mount York. They continued on to Mount Blaxland 25 km south of the site of Lithgow, on the western side of the mountains. From this point Blaxland declared there was enough forest or grassland "to support the stock of the colony for thirty years", while Lawson called it "the best watered Country of any I have seen in the Colony". The party then turned back, making the return journey in just six days.

Occupation

Matches 1 to 1 of 1

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Occupation		Person ID
1	Rainey, Albert George	1980	Blaxland, Blue Mountains City, Macquarie Federal District, New South Wales, Australia	I35337