INDEX

WHO DID DISCOVER AUSTRALIA?

COLONIAL EXPLORATION


Colonial Exploration: Hamilton Hume (1797- 1872)


Born: 19 June 1797  Paramatta, New South Wales, Australia.  Died: 19 April 1873. Hamilton Hume was born in Parramatta,New South Wales on 18 June 1797. Hume spent his boyhood in Appin, near Campbelltown, NSW. An obelisk stands near his former home on Appin Road at the place where he set off with Captain Hovell on their voyage of discovery to the inland and Port Phillip Bay in Victoria in 1824. He had a good knowledge of bushcraft, and by the age of 17 was exploring, first to the Berrima district (between Sydney and Canberra) in 1814 with his brother, then with Surveyor Meehan to the Goulburn Plains and Lake Bathurst in 1821. Over the next few years he was a member of several exploring parties, to Yass Plains (1821) and the tablelands near Braidwood. He is recognised as the first Australian born explorer.

The Yass Plains were discovered in 1821 by a party which included Hamilton Hume. The name is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word, yahr, meaning running water. Hume is buried in the Yass cemetery. The plains were an attraction to settlers in the 1820s. Settlement of the Yass area was sufficient to warrant the establishment of a post office at Yass in 1835. A court of petty sessions was established there the following year and in 1837 the site for the Yass township was gazetted. The Yass district council was proclaimed on 14 August, 1843, and in 1848 the township had 55 houses and 274 people.

In 1924 he travelled overland with sea captain William Hovelll and a party of six convicts from Sydney to Port Phillip. This famous overland journey is commemmorated by the Hume Highway, the principal road between Sydney and Melbourne. Hume and Hovell were also commemmorated by having their portraits printed on the Australian one-pound banknote between 1953 and 1966. In 1828, he journeyed with Sturt into western New South Wales, where they discovered the Darling River, the Murray River's longest tributary. Hume later served as a magistrate in Yass until his death. His grave is in the town's cemetery (right).