Sandstone Explorers Part 5 - Celebrating 200 years of The Crossing of the Blue Mountains - William Charles Wentworth

The last explorer in the series celebrating the crossing of the Blue Mountains is William Charles Wentworth. Perhaps the best known of the 3 Blue Mountains explorers at the time of the crossing.

W. C. Wentworth was the acknowledged son of D'Arcy Wentworth and a female convict named Catherine Crowley, who rose to be one of the most prominent men in the colony, not only as an explorer but a poet, journalist and politician.

After his birth on the ship Surprize in Norfolk Island, his parents returned to Sydney in 1796 and moved to Parramatta where his father became a successful land owner. In 1803 he was sent to England to be educated and returning in 1810 with no immediate job prospects,  he rode his father's horse Gig to victory in the first official horse race in Australia at the Hyde Park races, on the track that was where the modern day Hyde Park is today.

 

In 1811 Lachlan Macquarie selected Wentworth as acting provost-marshal and he was granted 1750 acres on the Nepean River. In 1813 driven by the desire to find new pastures and his adventurous nature he led the expedition to cross the Blue Mountains with Blaxland and Lawson. Like Blaxland and Lawson, Wentworth also wrote a journal documenting their expedition and describing the landscape in great detail.

 

Wentworth returned to England in 1816 to make his way and become a lawyer. In 1819 he wrote a book, the first by an Australian which was encouraged by young John Macarthur the son of the  John Macarthur senior the father of the wool industry in Australia.

 A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and Its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land, With a Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America.

 

He spent a great deal of time with the Macarthurs and hoped to marry Elizabeth but this did not eventuate (and there are two versions of what happened) either because William had convict parents or there was a dispute over money.

 

 

He was called to the bar in 1822 and spent time at Cambridge. In 1824 he returned to the colony and after his father's death in 1827 inherited his property and became one of the wealthiest men in the colony. It is at this time that bought land at Vaucluse and built the mansion known as Vaucluse House which still exists today as part of the Sydney Living Museum's properties.

 

The towns of  Wentworth and Wentworth Falls and the waterfall Wentworth Falls and the electoral division of Wentworth are named after this Australian explorer.

 

There is much more to tell about W C Wentworth but I will keep that for a later post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The beauty of sandstone - Victoria Regina

With so many beautiful sandstone buildings in Sydney, there are also many sculpted features that adorn them.

Many of them have various images of Queen Victoria on them as it was during her reign that the majority of these buildings were built. But not only were her images carved into stone on buildings but her initials were represented on various sandstone structures in and around Sydney.

 

 

Above the entrance to the Lands Department building in Bridge Street.

 

 

Above the entrance to Customs House Circular Quay.

 

 

Battlements at North Head.

 

 

Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 - 1901 was over a significant period of development in Australia hence why so many images of her exist in our heritage buildings.

 

Interesting fact - the "R" stands for Regina which means reigning queen.

Sandstone Explorers Part 4 - Celebrating 200 years of The Crossing of the Blue Mountains - William Lawson

Next in the series on Sandstone Explorers is William Lawson a member of the party that crossed the Blue Mountains in 1813.

William Lawson arrived in Sydney in 1800 as an ensign in the navy. Soon after he was posted to Norfolk Island for 6 years returning in 1806, when he was promoted to lieutenant and was made commandant at Newcastle until 1809.

 

 

 

As with many of the officers who arrived in the colony at the time Lawson soon acquired land and began developing his agricultural interests. At first a small property near Concord which quickly grew to 70 acres where he grazed mostly cattle.

 

During his time as an officer he acted on several court martials including D'Arcy Wentworth and John Macarthur just before the Rum Rebellion against Governor William Bligh. This is of particular interest to me as I work at Elizabeth Farm, the historical home of John Macarthur. During this time he received a grant of 500 acres at Prospect which was confirmed by Governor Macquarie after returning to the colony from his role as a witness in the trial of Major George Johnston. He named it Veteran Hall and built a 40 room mansion.

 

Being a qualified surveyor, when he was asked by Gregory Blaxland to join the expedition to cross the Blue Mountains he accepted and joined with him and William Charles Wentworth setting off in May 1813.

 

During the expedition all three explorers kept journals but it was Lawson's that was expertly completed with accurate measurements of time and distance and allowed the route to be accurately retraced.

 

As with Blaxland and Wentworth, when the explorers returned they were rewarded with 1,000 acres west of the mountains and Lawson chose his on the Campbell River near Bathurst. In 1819 Lawson was appointed commandant of Bathurst and remained in this post until 1824 after which he retired to Veteran Hall. 

 

While living in Bathurst Lawson continued his explorations opening up the area around Mudgee. He had large parcels of land on which he grazed cattle, sheep and horses. His horses were well renowned throughout the colony as coach horses.

 

Lawson supported the foundation of the Scots Church in 1824 and Scots Church Parramatta in 1838. During his time as a magistrate he signed an approval for trial by jury.

 

He died in 1850 leaving most of his estates to his son William.

 

Interesting fact  - he was nicknamed "Old Ironbark" because of his strength and endurance.

Sydney Sandstone - Museum of Sydney

While the Museum of Sydney is not one of the original sandstone buildings along Bridge Street it is of significance because it is on the site of the First Government House and still has some of the original sandstone foundations on display.

I have also included it because the façade of the museum shows the evolution of the way sandstone was used in buildings in Sydney. From the rough hewn original blocks at the bottom of the photo, progressing to the more refined squarer blocks  further up and then through to the smooth finish in top of the photo.

Sydney sandstone known as Yellowblock was quarried in and around Sydney predominantly around Pyrmont where there were approximately 50 quarries. The main public buildings built in Sydney from the 1850's until the 20th century were built using this stone.

 

 

 

The Museum of Sydney is well worth a visit as it interprets the archaeological remains of first Government House and also looks at the stories of Sydney both past and present through interesting stories and interactive displays.

Sandstone Explorers Part 3 - Celebrating 200 years of The Crossing of the Blue Mountains - Gregory Blaxland

Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth are three names synonymous with Australian exploration. They are credited with being the first Europeans to cross the impassable Blue Mountains and open up the fertile plains to the west of Sydney.

While this has always been the historical version of the opening up of the inland, by the time Gregory Blaxland had received approval from Governor Macquarie to mount an expedition to find a way over the Blue Mountains, a great deal of information had already been gathered from others who had tried and failed.

                                                                 Gregory Blaxland

Blaxland emigrated in 1805 with the promise of free passage, land and convict servants upon arrival. People like the Blaxlands were encouraged to emigrate because the government wanted 'settlers of responsibility and capital'.

Upon arrival Blaxland sold the provisions he had brought with him for a tidy profit and bought cattle which he grazed on land he located. He also bought land from D'Arcy Wentworth at Brush Farm near Eastwood.

Like a lot of the free settlers they did very well in the colony but always thought they should be entitled to more. And in 1808 Blaxland with his brother John signed the petition to arrest and overthrow Governor Bligh.

After further grants of land by Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson which were confirmed and added to by Governor Macquarie, Blaxland realised that this was still not enough for his ever expanding sheep and cattle flocks.

In 1810 this lead to Blaxland exploring the Nepean River and realising that the way to obtain new land was to explore the interior west of Sydney. He petitioned Governor Macquarie to form an expedition to cross the Blue Mountains and on 11th May 1813 he set out with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth.

They made their way over the mountains following the ridges rather than looking for a way through the valleys and completed the crossing in 21 days.

In later years Blaxland tried to persuade Governor Macquarie to allow a scheme to utilise the interior for grazing his own flocks but Macquarie would not allow it.

Blaxland then experimented with a number of different crops including viticulture for which he won a silver medal for wine in 1822.

After the death of his wife in 1826 he returned to England taking with him a petition with support for trial by jury and some form of representative government. He also took another sample of wine for which he won another medal.

After returning to the colony he pursued his agricultural and viticultural interests until his suicide in January 1853.

Sandstone buildings - Chief Secretary's Building

One thing synonymous with Sydney are the beautiful sandstone buildings we have all over the city. Bridge Street from Macquarie Street running down to George Street is one of the streets with a number of these buildings. These buildings are mostly government departments built from the early 1870's until the 1890's.

A number of the buildings in this period were designed by colonial architect James Barnet, being in that position from 1862 - 1890.

One of these is the Chief Secretary's Building originally the Colonial Secretary's Building. This building faces Macquarie Street and stands on the city block bounded by Bridge, Phillip and Loftus Street.

                                        
                                     View looking from the corner of Macquarie and Bridge Street.

It features 9 life size statues, 6 on the outside (3 of which you can see in the photo above and below) and 3 on the inside. These external statues were sculpted by Achille Simonetti who also worked on the Governor Phillip Fountain.
 A fifth floor and dome were added in the 1890s by Barnet’s successor Walter Liberty Vernon, as well as an extension south at 50 Phillip Street.

                                        View looking from the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street

One of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

 

Another of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

Another of the statues on the corner of Phillip and Bridge Street.

 

This view faces Bridge Street

 

This view faces Macquarie Street. 

 

The building houses The Industrial Relations Commission of NSW offices.

Interesting fact - the dome was originally covered in aluminium which was one of the first uses of the material.

Again seem to be having trouble uploading photos so will have to work through the problem over the couple of days.

Not sure whether it is the new Microsoft edition but can't seem to pin point what the problem is!


But will keep trying and hope to be back soon. Wish I had a techie in the family.