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.