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John Oxley - Into the Interior of New South Wales
Mr. Evans continued to trace the Macquarie River until December the 18th, passing over rich tracts clear of timber,
well-watered, and offering every advantage which a country in its natural state can be supposed to afford. During this
excursion, Mr. Evans fell in with abundance of kangaroos and emus, and the river abounded with fine fish: he saw only six
natives during the whole time of his absence, viz. two women and four children, although on his return he observed many fires
in the neighbourhood of the mountains. On the 8th of January, 1814, he returned to Emu Plains, having gone in the whole near
one hundred miles in a direct line due west from the Nepean River.
From the report of Mr. Evans, Governor Macquarie was induced to believe that a road might be opened for the whole distance
already surveyed, and was most anxious that the colony should reap as soon as possible the advantages, which the discovery of
such extensive and fertile tracts seemed to open.
The ample means afforded for this purpose enabled Mr. Cox, to whose superintendence this work was entrusted, to complete a
road passable for loaded carriages early in 1815. This road extended in length upwards of one hundred miles, the first fifty of
which passed along a narrow ridge of the Blue Mountains, bounded on each side by deep ravines, and precipitous rocks. The
road which was cut down Mount York was a work of considerable labour and magnitude, and reflected the highest credit upon
all employed in it. This important task being finished, the governor resolved in person to visit a country of which so much had
been said, and to judge from actual observation how far the sanguine hopes which had been entertained were likely to be
realized; his excellency therefore, accompanied by Mrs. Macquarie and his suite, set out from Emu Plains on the 26th of April,
1815, and arrived on the 4th of May at a small encampment (the site of which had been previously selected), on Bathurst
Plains, near the termination of Mr. Evans's journey. Governor Macquarie having been pleased to publish for the information of
the colonists such observations on the country as he deemed necessary, I shall not presume to add any thing to an account,
which so clearly and accurately describes all that could be interesting or beneficial to the colonist and general inquirer.
I have therefore inserted in the Appendix the account published by the Governor in the Sydney Gazette, of the 10th of June,
1815, as affording the best and most authentic information on the subject. During the Governor's stay at Bathurst, he
despatched Mr. Evans, and a party with a month's provisions, to explore the country to the south-west, and it is the result of
that journey which led to the expedition, the direction of which was entrusted to my command.
The means which his excellency placed at my disposal were well calculated to attain the object in view, and it is a matter of the
most sincere regret, that the nature and description of the country which we passed through was for the most part such as to
afford few interesting objects of research or remark.
The botanical productions of the country have however in a great measure been ascertained by Mr. Allan Cunningham, the
King's botanist, who accompanied the expedition.
With respect to the construction of the chart prefixed to this Journal, it is thought proper to observe, that the situation of the
principal stations of Bathurst, and the depot on the Lachlan River, were ascertained by celestial observations, and connected by
a series of triangles, commencing at the latter point, and closing at Bathurst. New base lines were frequently measured, and any
unavoidable errors which might arise from the nature of the country were corrected at every proper opportunity by observed
latitudes; so that on the return of the expedition to Bathurst, I had the satisfaction to find the connection of the angles complete,
the error in the whole survey not exceeding a mile of longitude.
The instruments chiefly used were a small theodolite by Ramsden, and Kater's pocket compass [Note: A most valuable
instrument, combining all the advantages of the circumferentor, without being so liable to be damaged and put out of order by
carriage.], with the addition of an excellent sextant, pocket chronometer, and artificial horizon. I have to lament that our
mountain barometers were broken at an early stage of the expedition; the height however of some principal points had been
previously obtained, and is marked on the chart; these in two instances were verified by geometrical measurement, and the
difference was found to be too trilling to be noticed. The conveyance of such delicate instruments is always attended with great
risk, and in our case peculiarly so, our means being only those of horseback. I am afraid that a method of constructing those
instruments, so as to place them beyond the reach of injury by carriage, will always remain among the desiderata of science. I
have given to our thermometrical observations the form of a chart, as affording the readiest view of the atmospherical changes
which took place during our journey. The winds and weather are also more particularly noticed on the same sheet than in the
narrative.
It may perhaps be not superfluous to mention, that it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to follow the course of the
Macquarie River, and it is sanguinely expected that the result of the contemplated expedition will be such as to leave no longer
in doubt the true character of the country comprising the interior of this vast island. It would be as presumptuous as useless to
speculate on the probable termination of the Macquarie River, when a few months will (it is to be hoped) decide the long
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