B&W (T) Terrick Terrick Calivil, Victoria, Australia
By The Morris (adopted by WazzaAndWenches) on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2288

This cache has been placed to give you a view of the Terrick Terrick plains across the area the Victorian Exploring Expedition travelled and towards the area where they camped.  Unfortunately the dam and homestead are well onto private property and you can only imagine the area from the Bendigo Creek crossing on Thompson's Rd.

Thursday-Friday, 30–31/8/1860

Inspired by the journals of Dr. Ludwig Becker the official diarist and naturalist of the expedition.

As Burke led his party for twelve miles across the Terrick Terrick Plains (entering the area described by Major Mitchell during his expedition in 1836 as Australia Felix),the Terrick Terrick Hills seemed in the mirage to float in the air. Not restricted by fences, the party took the most direct and practicable route to the homestead of Dr. John Pearson Rowe on the west bank of the creek and close to the most easterly tip of the range. Today it is most easily reached by travelling east from Mitiamo, then downstream in a northerly direction. A brick remnant of the old homestead standing on a rise among sheoaks is easily recognized. The property, now known as Oak Ridge, is the home of Mr. F. Thomas. Some idea of the extensive homestead complex necessary to operate a remote grazing run in the early days can be gained from the remains of the many buildings formerly on Terrick Terrick but long since disappeared.

Dr. Rowe, a chemist from Lancashire, had crossed from Hobart in 1846 to live the remaining 32 years of his life as a squatter,almost solely on the Terrick Terrick Plains. A man of prominence and influence in the squatting age, he controlled at various times a total of almost half a million acres. Taking up the Restdown Plains run (106,922 acres) in 1852, he made his home beside the Campaspe River. The following year, he built nearby on the bank of the Campaspe a hotel, quaintly named The Apples, to accommodate the many drovers and prospectors passing through. Around this hotel grew the township of Rowechester, now Rochester, so named by the Governor in compliment to its founder. Dr. Rowe held Terrick Terrick No. 2 for thirteen years, and Becker commented that the doctor was present to welcome the expedition when it halted there.

Becker noted Dr. Rowe's use of local building materials, and was impressed by the large dam constructed on the creek, of which the bluestone spillway is an impressive survival. Settlers further downstream resented this interference with the flow of the stream and attempted to destroy the dam by explosion. Becker remarked on the discoloration of the stream resulting from the puddling by thousands of miners in and around theBendigo goldfield.

Here the explorers made their first contact with tribal aborigines who camped near them at Dr. Rowe's but could not be tempted to come near them, the blacks being especially apprehensive of the camels. To them, the camels were ‘bunyips', and to be feared accordingly. No mention was made in the expedition's records of the two fenced but un-named graves whose occupants now rest forgotten close to the homestead.

The party remained two days with Dr. Rowe before moving further down the creek to Mount Hope.

The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860, usually known as the Burke and Wills expedition, stands as a landmark in Australian history. They succeeded in crossing the continent form South to North, at the cost of several lives. These geocaches mark important points associated with the Expedition.

Robert O’Hara Burke was a former soldier and police superintendant in country Victoria when he was selected to lead the Expedition. Their goal was to explore the unknown areas north of Cooper’s Creek with a view to finding a route to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along the way, they were to conduct a full scientific survey, and identify good grazing land. If Melbourne were to establish an outpost on the North coast, it could also serve one day as the landing point for a transcontinental telegraph link.

The Expedition left Royal Park on the 20th of August 1860, with 19 men, 26 camels, 24 horses, six wagons and 21 tons of supplies. Many of these supplies were left along the way as Burke progressively streamlined the party, obsessed with the idea of beating rival explorer John Macdouall Stuart to the north coast. Burke came within kilometres of the open sea along the Gulf of Carpentaria with a small group of four men after a punishing journey across unforgiving country. He returned after four months to the depot site at Cooper’s Creek to find the relief party had left that very morning, burying a small cache of supplies near a tree marked with the word DIG. Burke and Wills died by the banks of the Cooper. Of the four men to reach the Gulf country, only John King survived.

The scientific goals of the expedition were greatly curtailed by Burke’s haste, and much of the land they traversed is marginal grazing country at best. The eventual telegraph line followed Stuart’s route fromAdelaide to Darwin. Nevertheless, the bravery and persistence shown by the members of the expedition has ensured their names live on even today.