Hamilton Hume

Hamilton Hume
Studio portrait of Hamilton Andrew Hume, ca. 1869
Born(1797-06-19)19 June 1797
Seven Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died19 April 1873(1873-04-19) (aged 75)
Yass, New South Wales, Australia
Resting placeYass, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationsExplorer; Magistrate
Years active1814−1873
Known forHume and Hovell expedition
Spouse
Elizabeth Dight
​
​
(m. 1825)​

Hamilton Hume (19 June 1797 – 19 April 1873)[1] was an early explorer of the present-day Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. In 1824, along with William Hovell, Hume participated in an expedition that first took an overland route from Sydney to Port Phillip (near the site of present-day Melbourne). Along with Sturt in 1828, he was part of an expedition of the first Europeans to find the Darling River.

Background

Hume was born on 19 June 1797 in Seven Hills, near Parramatta, a settlement close to (and now part of Greater) Sydney. He was the eldest son of Andrew Hamilton Hume and his wife Elizabeth, née Kennedy. Andrew Hume got the appointment of Commissary-General for New South Wales, and came out to the colony in 1797.[2]

Exploratory career

Early exploration

[3]

In 1822, he journeyed with Alexander Berry down the south coast of New South Wales. He travelled as far south as the Clyde River, and inland nearly as far as Braidwood. Berry came to settle in the Shoalhaven, and in June 1822 he left Hume and a party of convicts to cut a 209-yard canal between the Shoalhaven River and the Crookhaven River to allow passage of boats into the Shoalhaven. This canal was Australia's first navigable canal, and the work was completed in 12 days. The canal today forms the main water flow of the Shoalhaven River.[4]

Hume and Hovell expedition

Main article: Hume and Hovell expedition

In any event, the hoped-for government funding of the expedition was not forthcoming.

The party had to cross the major Murrumbidgee River, Murray River, Mitta Mitta River, Ovens River, and Goulburn River. Hovell had named the Murray River after Hume during the trip but Charles Sturt altered it to its current name in 1830.

Four days after crossing the Goulburn impassable country was reached. The party spent three days attempting to cross the Great Dividing Range at Mt Disappointment but were thwarted. Hume shifted direction to the West then reached lower land at the future township of Broadford on 12 December where they camped.[5] Hume headed towards low ranges to the South and found a pass in that direction next day. He led the party across the Dividing Range at Hume’s Pass, Wandong and on 16 December 1824 reached Port Phillip Bay at Bird Rock, Point Lillias adjacent to the future Geelong.[6] Hovell claimed that he measured their longitude on the same day but in reality he read it off the sketch map that he and Hume had drafted themselves during the trip.[7] Hovell admitted in 1867 that he did not take any longitude measurements and blamed Hume for it.[8] Prior to this admission, Dr William Bland, who wrote the first book on the journey in 1831, invented the myth that Hovell made an error of one degree in longitude in order to protect him.[9]

The party turned back towards New South Wales on 18 December. Hume chose to travel more to the west to avoid the mountainous country and save considerable time. On 16 January 1825, just as their flour ran out, then two days later the safety of Hume's station at Gunning.[10]

This expedition was the first to discover an overland route from southern New South Wales to Port Phillip, on whose shores Melbourne now stands.

Blue Mountains and Lithgow Valley

In 1827, accompanied by Lieutenant George M. C. Bowen, then an assistant surveyor, Hume explored the western part of the Blue Mountains—around the landform that he named the Darling Causeway, after Governor Ralph Darling—and found three passes through the western escarpment that would have avoided the steep Mt York route.[11] During this period, he named the Lithgow Valley, after William Lithgow, who, at the time, was the Auditor-General of New South Wales.[12]

Exploration of the Darling River

In November 1828, Hume journeyed with Charles Sturt into western New South Wales, where they found the Darling River, the Murray River's longest tributary.

Later life

Hume married Elizabeth Dight on 8 November 1825 at St Philip's Church in Sydney.[13] She survived him but had no children.

Hume served as a magistrate in Yass until his death at his residence, Cooma Cottage in Yass on 19 April 1873. A double seater buggy once owned by Hume and used by him in Yass is in the National Museum of Australia collection in Canberra.[14]

Honours

Hume is commemorated by the Hume Highway, the principal road between Sydney and Melbourne. Hume and Hovell were also commemorated by having their portraits printed on the Australian one-pound banknote between 1953 and 1966. Hume Dam and the impounded reservoir, Lake Hume, were named in his honour in 1996.[15][16] The Canberra suburb of Hume was named after him, as was the federal electoral Division of Hume. The City of Hume, an outer metropolitan council in Melbourne formed in 1994, is named in his honour.

In 1976 a postage stamp bearing the portraits of Hume and Hovell was issued by Australia Post. The Hume and Hovell Track, a 440-kilometre (270 mi) trail between Yass and Albury, also bears their joint names.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "The Late Mr. Hamilton Hume". Australian Town and Country Journal. NSW: National Library of Australia. 17 May 1873. p. 9. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  2. ^ "THE LATE MR. HAMILTON HUME". Empire. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 21 May 1873. p. 4. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  3. ^ "HUME, THE EXPLORER". Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers. Melbourne. 20 May 1873. p. 1 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE ILLUSTRATED AUSTRALIAN NEWS. Retrieved 29 April 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Shoalhaven City Council. "On this day" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  5. ^ Hovell, William H., Remarks on a journey from Lake George, Lat. 35 deg. 5 min., Long. – towards Western Port, 2 October – 21 December 1824, Safe 1/32b, IE3447307, 1825, p. 143, SLNSW.
  6. ^ Williams, Martin. Hamilton Hume Sketch Maps: Origins and Modern Treatment, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 92, No. 1, June 2021, p. 21.
  7. ^ Williams, Martin. Hamilton Hume Sketch Maps: Origins and Modern Treatment, Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 92, No. 1, June 2021, p. 13.
  8. ^ William H. Hovell, Answer to the Preface to the Second Edition of Mr. Hamilton Hume’s ‘A Brief Statement of Facts’ in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824, Sydney, J. Ferguson, 1874, p. 8.
  9. ^ William Bland, Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip, New South Wales; by Messrs. W. H. Hovell, and Hamilton Hume in 1824 and 1825. W. Bland, Sydney, A.H. Hill, 1831, Facsimile Edition, Adelaide Libraries Board of South Australia, 1965, p. iii.
  10. ^ Bland 1831 p. 86.
  11. ^ "TO THE EDITOR OF THE SYDNEY GAZETTE". Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842). 14 December 1827. p. 3. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  12. ^ Tourism, Lithgow (22 September 2017). "Bowenfels Railway Station | Lithgow Tourism Information". Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser. 17 November 1825. p. 5.
  14. ^ Double seater buggy once owned by the explorer Hamilton Hume, National Museum of Australia
  15. ^ "Hume Dam". Water Resources: Water Storages: Murray. Goulburn-Murray Water. 2013. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  16. ^ "Lake Hume". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 19 April 2013.

The Story of John Byrne, Freeman's Journal Thursday 11 June 1908, p. 32

References


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