Aussie Explorers Locationless, New South Wales, Australia
By The Rats on 01-Sep-02. Waypoint GC87A8

Hello!

I found this monument in Echternach/Luxembourg which was establish in memory of ending the nazi terror in Luxembourg by american soldiers in 1944-1945.

Greeting from Germany bye Team Uschi

[This entry was edited by Team Uschi on Saturday, October 22, 2005 at 1:25:19 PM.]

This fountain is dedicated to Burke and Wills (and others in their party) that perished while exploring inland Australia.
It is in Ballarat, Vic, Australia. If only they had a GPS and UHF, they might have found the Dig Tree.

This is the monument celebrating the discovery of Gippsland by Angus McMillan in 1839 - 1841, it is located in Rosedale Victoria

Len Beadell’s Memorial at Woomera cemetery.

Len has been described as "The Last Australian Explorer" because of his lifetime of work surveying, mapping and creating access to a vast portion of the Australian Outback.

In 1947, he was tasked by the Australian government to locate and survey the site for a rocket testing range in northern South Australia stretching across West Australia almost to the Indian Ocean. The town that was the base for the range was later named Woomera. This he tackled with enthusiasm, energy and unfailing good humour.

As a surveyor Len was responsible for the initial town survey and launch sites and in the years to follow he led a gang of roadmakers to create over 6,500 kilometres of access roads for scientific observers of various weapons tests.

The best known of these roads is The Gunbarrel Highway which runs from the Stuart Highway west to Carnegie Station, a distance of 1500 kilometres.

The atomic bomb test sites at Emu and Maralinga in South Australia were also located and laid out by Len Beadell during the cold war years of the 1950's.

The names of some these roads and intersections in this giant grid reflect Len's love of his family that he was absent from for up to nine months in a year. The Gary Highway, the Connie Sue Highway, Jackie Junction and the Anne Beadell Highway, from Coober Pedy SA to Laverton WA (1400 kms), are visited now by his widow, children and grandchildren.

During these years he and his workmates were subject to the extremes of the Australian bush coping with the heat, cold, dust storms, rain, floods and flies and all the time his navigation, both solar and stellar, was crucial to their own safety and the success of the rocket range. The accuracy of his surveying has been affirmed with the introduction of Global Positioning Satellite systems

For more information, see:
http://www.beadell.com.au/index.htm

After completing a local cache (GC94BB) we realised there may be two logs for the one visit so I grabbed the camera and snapped away. The virtual is dedicated to Hume and Hovell who explored this area in early 1800’s.
In 1924 the local residents built this tower in memory of the explorers Hume and Hovell and their epic journey through this district.
The cache and this monument tower can be found on Monument road, a few minutes out of Kilmore in country Victoria. The drive views and cache are worth the visit.
Many thanks to The Rats for the opportunity to log this Virtual cache.
Regards Mr.Coffee and the “ If Hume and Hovell had GPS units who would be FTF†Clan.

Captain James Stirling 1827

Matthew Flinders landed on Coochiemudlo Island (or Coochie as it is called locally), as his sixth Island of Moreton Bay, on July 19, 1799 to take his bearings.
Coochie was noted by Flinders who did not name it, instead he numbered it number “sixâ€. Other Moreton Bay islands were numbered 1-5 also. If you zoom in on this link, you can see the numbers 1 through to 6 on this original chart prepared by Flinders. http://image.sl.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/ebindshow.pl?doc=flinders_maps/a125;seq=14

More info can be found at:

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/flinders/

and for tourism info on the Island and Matthew Flinders reenactments; see:

www.redlandstourism.com/info.asp.94.html

This memorial on Coochie (called Flinders Lookout) was built in the 1930’s by Douglas Moreton to give day trippers a better view of southern Morton Bay.

Hope you enjoy and learn from this great site.

Cheers Deco.

A memorial for the completion of John McDouall Stuart 1815 - 1866 6th expedition from Adelaide to Darwin in 1861. This statue is located at the centre of Darwin.

There were many great explorers of inland Australia, but John McDouall Stuart was one of the greatest.

At the age of 23, he sailed from Scotland bound for South Australia, arriving in January 1839. Adelaide had been established just two years earlier and was at that time an isolated settlement of tents and thatched wooden huts with earth floors.

In 1844, Stuart joined Charles Sturt's last expedition into the interior of Australia. Stuart was a draughtsman on the trip. This expedition brought them the closest of any other Europeans to the centre of Australia. After this, Stuart was filled with desire to cross the continent. By the end of the expedition, Stuart had become the second in command. Both Sturt and Stuart were suffering from scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, on their return. Stuart was ill for more than a year, during which time he moved to Port Lincoln to live in a bush environment.
Another expedition led by Stuart was immediately financed by the South Australian Government. Stuart was to return to Newcastle Waters but then was to continue north to the headwaters of the Adelaide River, and follow it to the sea at Escape Cliffs.

Departed 8 January 1862
Again with William Darton Kekwick as second in command, the expedition left Chambers Creek.

Three months later they reached Newcastle Waters, and rested for a few days before starting the crossing of Sturt's Plains, which had caused them to turn back previously. Once again Stuart made scouting trips ahead of the main party and in doing so discovered a number of creeks and rivers which he named after his companions.

24 July 1862
They arrived at the ocean at Chambers Bay, near today's Darwin. Stuart achieved his dream.

They raised the British flag there, nine months after leaving Adelaide.



They retraced their steps on the 3400 kilometre journey back to Adelaide. It had been a hard journey and men and horses were exhaused. Stuart's eyesight failed and his health was so bad that he didn't think he'd make it back.

One of the party, the blacksmith, a man named McGorreyey, made a stretcher for Stuart when he could no longer ride. The stretcher was carried for about 950 km between two horses. His men were devoted to him and their care saved his life. They arrived back in Adelaide on 17 December 1862.

Because of John Stuart's explorations:

*The western border of South Australia was moved to its current position;
*The geography of the centre of Australia became known;
*Control of the Northern Territory was transferred to South Australia;
*The Overland Telegraph Line, linking Adelaide to Europe via Darwin, was constructed along his route;
*The original Ghan train route from Adelaide to Alice Springs followed his route;
*South Australia established a settlement on the north coast at Darwin ;
*Huge areas of the north were opened up for pastoral and mineral development.
Today, Stuart's name and achievements are commemmorated by:

*The Stuart Highway, also known as 'Explorer Highway, starting at Port Augusta in the south and going north for 1227km to Alice Springs.
*Geographical features named in his honour. *A statue in Victoria Square, Adelaide.
*Memorials and plaques in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/stuart.htm
http://www.cyburbia.net.au/Community/jmcdss/expedit.html

This memorial commemorates the departure of the 1844 Sturt expedition to outback Australia and is located on the corner of Currie and King William St in the city of Adelaide.
The Great Inland Sea
Many of the early Europeans to arrive on the Australian continent had trouble accepting that it was now a predominantly dry land.
One of them was Charles Sturt, in 1844 he went in seach of an imagined inland sea.
See Picture "Route"
"I have a splendid boat, so am prepared for flood or field."Charles Sturt, 1845
In 1798, Joseph Banks told the Colonial Office that Australia, being 'as large as all Europe', must have 'vast rivers, capable of being navigated into the heart of the interior.'
In 1801, Matthew Flinders thought it might conceal a second Mediterranean Sea. In 1827, Lieutenant Maslen, a retired East India Company official who had never visited Australia, drew a map showing a great river flowing into central Australia.
See Pic - Map
Captain Charles Sturt (1795-1869) was born in India in 1795. This was about the same time that Bass & Flinders started to explore Australia's coastline. Sturt fought against Napoleon's army in Spain and at Waterloo. Because of his ability, his commanders made him a Captain and sent him to Australia with his army regiment in 1827.
Between 1828 and 1830, he mapped Australia's major river systems. The Darling River, the Murrumbidgee and the Murray.
In 1838, he again decided to explore the inland of Australia, trying to reach the exact centre of the continent. While he no longer believed there was an inland sea, he thought there could be one or more big lakes. He had noticed birds heading north from Adelaide every autumn and returning in good condition each spring. He thought therefore that there must be good feeding grounds to the north.
This was Sturt's fourth major expedition and began in August 1844, when he was almost 50 years of age. Three hundred men applied to join the expedition. Sturt chose 16 including James Poole, the second-in-command and set off together with 11 horses, 300 sheep, 32 bullocks, six dogs and an assortment of carts, wagons and a whaleboat.
The expedition followed the Murray to where it joined the Darling. Then northwards along the Darling then to the Barrier Ranges near Broken Hill. Trapped for 6 months, by a severe drought they stayed at a permanent waterhole Rocky Glen on Preservation Creek. Some of the men became sick with scurvy. Poole, the second-in-command's skin actually turned black and large pieces of flesh peeled off the inside of his mouth. He later died. Finally, after heavy rain, Sturt and his seven companions, set off to travel to the centre of the continent where they suffered terrible hardship. They reached a stony desert now known as Sturt's Stony desert and came to the Simpson Desert. By now they were very ill and it was so hot that their thermometer broke. They did not have enough water for their stock and were forced to turn back. Sturt now realised that there was no inland sea in the centre of Australia. He believed he was only 150 km from the very centre of Australia, but he knew that he would never make it alive across the desert, so he returned nearly 400 miles to Rocky Glen. By this time it was November and the waterholes were drying up. During his return journey, the party often had to travel 24 - 36 hours without water. Sturt did not want to get caught at Rocky Glen and so he pushed on another 270 km to the Darling River. From here, slowly and painfully they reached safety. They eventually limped back to Adelaide where people had given them up for dead. Sturt was claimed as a hero and given a gold medal.
Sturt spent the next 8 years in Adelaide as colonial treasurer and later as colonial secretary. When his eyesight began to fail in 1851, he returned to England with his family where he died in 1869.

Another Hume and Hovell pile of rocks that seem to abound this area.

Hume and Hovell and a party of men to help them, set out to explore the country between Sydney and Western Port. They started at Lake George (south of Sydney).

The first two weeks of the journey was through areas that had already been explored. They reached the Murrumbidgee River to find it was in flood. They waited for three days before they could cross it, using one of the carts as a boat, and then found themselves in mountainous country - the Australian Alps. They had to travel to the west to avoid them.

By 16 November they reached another river, which they named the Hume, but which was later renamed the Murray.

Near the Murray, at the place that is now Albury, the explorers carved their names on a tree on 17 November 1824. The tree is still there, with a plaque duplicating the carved words. The tree is called the Hovell Tree.

They continued on to the southwest, travelling through forest country. They saw a snowy peak to the east, and named it Mt Buffalo.

The party crossed the Eastern Highlands, passed Mt Disappointment and Mt Macedon and crossed the Werribee River. At last they reached the sea: they were at Corio Bay in Port Phillip, the place that is now the city of Geelong. As supplies were running low, the expedition set off for home the next day.


The sign reads: Hume and Hovell Explorers Passed 4 miles south 28th Nov 1824 Returned 3 miles north 29th Dec 1824 Erected November 1924.
It seem they were avoiding the metropolis that is Swanpool.

more information at http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/books_and_maps/hume.html

George Caley a botanist sent out here in 1800 by Joe Banks as the colonies botanist.
Caley was not deterred by Francis Barrallier,s failed attempt in 1802& he thought little of the so-called "mountains that he would face reffering to them as "high heaps of rock" or "hills" after setting out from Richmond
he reached Mt Banks/King George and just short of his goal he had to return
Web page http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/caley-george.html
this was lots of fun laerning about some brave intrepid people
Acko

This limestone bust is of Bunbury born Western Australian Explorer Sir John Forrest.

Born in Bunbury, Western Australia, on 22 August 1847, died at sea, on 3 September 1918.
In 1869 he led an expedition in search of Leichhardt, and in 1870 led another from Perth (Western Australia) to Adelaide (South Australia) around the Great Australian Bight. In 1874 he crossed the Great Victoria Desert from Champion Bay, Western Australia, to the Overland Telegraph Line in the Northern Territory. Forrest later became Deputy Surveyor-General for Western Australia, held other government posts, and became the first Premier and Colonial Treasurer of Western Australia. After 1901 he held ministerial posts in the Federal Government, including Acting Prime Minister.

John Forrest was also a well known botanist.

The photograph of the boys in one of Bunbury's main street commemorates his life.

Many thanks for the opportunity to find out a bit more of one of our home town famous Australian Explorers.

Team Prado - WA 1968

This monument, similar to many in north-east Victoria, marks the progress of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell on their expedition to the Spencer Gulf which actually turned around at Corio Bay on Port Phillip.
This web page
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/humenhovell.htm
gives a brief overview.
Thanks Rats for the opportunity to log this.

Sign reads:
Hume and Hovell
passed this way
24th November 1824
Erected November 1924

Flinders & Trim - Macquarie St, top of Hunter Sts, Sydney NSW


Matthew Flinders, 1774-1814, was amongst the most accomplished navigators and chart-makers of any age. In 1798 he sailed south from Sydney in the sloop Norfolk, passed through Bass Strait and circumnavigated Van Diemens Land (Tasmania), thus proving it to be an island. From 1801 to 1803 he circumnavigated mainland Australia in HMS Investigator. Also I have captured his much loved cat "trim" (apt name for a ship captain's pet!).

Here's a link for some info and here http://www.windbound.com/MatthewFlinders/epicvoyage.htm

Governor Macquarie was the third governor of the new colony in Australia. While he did not make long exploratory journies into the interior himself, he is responsible for the exploration of the area around Sydney. For example, he had the first road west across the Blue Mountains built, opening that area up for expansion of European settlers. As part of Mrs. Macquaries Road, a culvert was built which was the first bridge in Australia. It still exists, and is on the grounds of the Sydney Botanical Gardens. (Originally covered in wood, the culvert would have been a subject back then of the Plank Roads locationless cache.)

Paddy Hannan's Obelisk - Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
This obelisk marks the most westward point of the reward claim that Paddy pegged on June 15th, 1893 on Mt Charlotte, starting one of the greatest goldrushes ever. It sits beside the Kalgoorlie bypass road, near the top end of town.

For some brief info on Paddy go to:
http://www.kalgoorlie.com/tourism/paddy.asp

A plaque laid to celebrate where the overland party rendezvous with the sea party before founding the town of Bowen, Qld. These forefathers endured isolation from the greater areas of Brisbane to start a new life in a harsh, yet beautiful environment.

More details, including names to follow (if available)....

Agsmky

Grave of Thomas Boyd, Tumut NSW
Member of the Hume and Hovell Expedition

Found it on our S.E. NSW Caching Holiday!

Transported to the Australian Penal Colony of New South Wales at 22, Thomas Boyd, a young irish ploughman, led an interesting life until his death in 1885 at 86 years of age.

Through Hamilton Hume, Thomas was given a place in the 'Hume & Hovell Expedition' to Port Philip bay in 1824 as one of Hovell's men. It was said that next to Hume himself, Thomas Boyd was the most valuable member of the expedition.

Thomas has a claim to fame of being accepted as the first white man to swim accross the Murray River onto Victorian soil which occurred when he swam the Murray with a piece of rope between his teeth which was then used to transport the gear over the River. Thomas was reknowned for being a very good swimmer.

All this at the age of 26. Following the expedition, he returned later to settle in Gilmore, near Tumut.

http://home.primus.com.au/bonzaideas/MyFamilyTree/MyFamilyTree.html#Boyd

This is a memorial grave for Tommy Winditch, an Aboriginal man who is remembered as being 'a faithful friend and companion' of John and Alexander Forrest on their explorations in Western Australia. The real location of his grave is some 300 mtrs away, but time waits for no man, and the memorial was placed in the Port Authority Park on the Esplanade in Esperance. The original headstone can now be seen in the Esperance Museum with some rare photographs of Tommy. http://www.redroo.iinet.net.au/tomwindich.htm

'Burke and Wills Fig Tree' - Curlewis St Swan Hill. This very large Moreton Bay Fig was planted as a seedling during a stay around 6/9/1860 by the explorers on thier way to Menindee and Coopers creek where they established a depot for thier exploration to the Gulf. Thought to be the largest of its kind(at nearly 145 year old) ,I considered it for the 'Big list',but the nearby Murray Cod won. (http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/burkeandwills/explorers/burke.html)

I found this on the way up the Golden Stairs in Katoomba.
Walter Botting (1887-1985)
Did a Google on his name but with no luck so far. So at present can't give you any more info but what is on the plaque. Will keep looking and update log if info found.

Found a memorial to Charles Sturt at Loxton in South Australia. If it wasn't for this heroic trip I wouldn't be living in Adelaide today (and for the last 30 years) so hats off for the captain. As pointed out in other logs there is a good website explaining his trip which opened up South Australia and led to the colony based on free people and not convicts being based there.

Matthew Flinders was one of the better known marine explorers of the early days. This statue of him is at Rumbalara Reserve in Gosford. Why does he look so worried? Is it because he is lost and on top of a hill? Is it because he is in Gosford (he may have visited but I don't think so)? My guess is he is wondering why the hell a statue of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith is only metres away.

Burke and Wills departed Royal Park, Melbourne at 4pm on 20th August 1860 (see Maccamob log for this cache on 9th September 2002) By midnight they had reached a lagoon in Essendon, on the then outskirts of Melbourne - they had taken 8 hours to cover a distance of just over 4 kilometres!
This lagoon, now known as Queens Park, was to be their first stopover on their fateful north-south crossing of the Australian continent.
Unfortunately the horses and camels being used to carry the 20 tons of equipment were proving incompatible, the camels were rested at the lagoon, the horses spent the night about a kilometre further up the track!
The State Library of Victoria has put together a very comprehensive collection of Burke and Wills information - see http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/burkeandwills/

Found this plaque by chance while we were placing a cache in this area. The following link gives a bit more info on EJ Eyre and his trip (note epic) from Streaky Bay in SA to Albany in WA http://www.nullarbornet.com.au/themes/edwardJohnEyre.html
The following link gives specific reference to his part of the trip thru Esperance which is where we found the plaque
http://www.nullarbornet.com.au/towns/esperance.html
Thanks for making us do a bit of a History Lesson

Currently having probs uploading an image so will try again later

in Alice Springs:

John McDouall Stuart passes hereabouts an ascendeg and named Central Mt Sturt (Stuart) during his heroic and successfull exploratione while crossinc the continent 1860-1862

hpolzer - Germany

Found this while looking for a good eat in Townsville. I couldn't resist logging this rememberence of the founders of Townsville. It is a little bit different then the standard plaque or statue - but I think it captures how important and remembered these men are.

Andrew Ball, John Melton Black, Robert Towns, Mark Watt Reid

Andrew Ball is credited with being the first European to survey the area and report on its suitability as a port and settlement.

Towns and Black explored the North QLD coast and selected what is now known as Townsville as a port to serve the area.

Arthurs Seat, Victoria. This monument marks the spot where Matthew Flinders observed Port Phillip Bay on the 27th of APRIL 1802. Flinders who mistook Port Phillip Bay for Westernport only discovered his mistake after climbing Arthurs Seat which was named by Lieutenant John Murray (Only weeks earlier) after a rocky outcrop near Edinburgh.

http://ggd.customer.netspace.net.au/public_html/mflinder.htm

Apparently, you are nobody if you haven't found some trace of Thomas Mitchell. I found this memorial by accident. I was logging maccamob's "Vol-Au-Vent (Vulcan 7)" at Mt Napier in Western Victoria, when I saw a trig point at the top with a large concrete block beside it. I made the climb in the hope of logging the trig point for the Two Dogs locationless cache. The concrete block turned out to be a memorial to Major Sir Thomas Mitchell, who discovered and named Mount Napier.

Major Mitchell and his party certainly got around!!

This location is located in Benalla, VIC and commemorates the loss of the party's bugler by drowning. The plaque reads:

In memory of James ("Tally Ho") Taylor, bugler to Major Thomas Livingston Mitchell's exploration party, who was drowned here whilst seeking a suitable crossing of this "Swampy River" on 13th October 1836

Erected by Benalla and District Historical Society

Paul Desmond Scully-Power was born in Sydney on 28/5/1944. In 1960 he was awarded a scholarship to Sydney University as a mathematics honours student, during which time he developed his interest in oceanography. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in applied mathematics, he joined the Royal Australian Navy where he helped set up an oceanographic unit at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney.

In 1972 Paul married his wife Frances (they have six children together) and went to the United States as an RAN exchange student with the US Navy. He teamed up with fellow oceanographer, Bob Stevenson and began briefing Skylab astronauts on how best to study and photograph unusual ocean swirls that had been observed from space.

In 1976, at the request of the US Navy, Paul took his family to live permanently in the United States. He continued to brief American astronauts now training for the first Shuttle missions. In June 1984 he was chosen by NASA to be a member of the 13th Shuttle mission which would study Earth Sciences. His mission started on 5 October 1984 when space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Kennedy taking the first person born in Australia into Space.

Dr Paul Scully-Power, an Australian pioneer and explorer.

see: http://www.users.bigpond.com/mpthomas/space/astronauts.html

On the way home from a day in Castlemaine and doing a nearby traditional cache, I spotted this monument on the way out of Kyneton at 18:00. I remembered this Locationless Cache and quickly bundled EuDes out of the car and in front of the monument on the off-chance that it hadn't been logged. To my surprise, it looks like it hadn't!!!

This is another one of those “Major Thomas Mitchell was 'ere†monuments and who am I to doubt it? Even the local high school is proud enough of the event to boast about it on its web page (see http://www.kynsec.vic.edu.au/about.htm#histgeog).

Attached is the obligatory pickie with EuDes herself holding Geko and a closeup of the plaque. 30 September, that must have been close to Grand Final Day !!!

Thanks The Rats

[This entry was edited by EuDes on Sunday, August 22, 2004 at 11:04:17 PM.]

On a drive from Armidale to the Apsley Gorge we came across this cairn. I had no idea what it was but asked the driver to stop. And another locationless cache is found! We were in Walcha, NSW at the time. No idea why the cairn is 1 mile NW of the spot in question.

We found another cairn in Oxley's honour at the Apsley Gorge (which is in the Oxley Wild River National Park). If someone wants to log it the coordinates are S 31 03.013 E 151 48.177.

Oxley website: http://www.davidreilly.com/australian_explorers/oxley/john1.htm

TFTC! (Photos will be loaded August 9 on our return home.)

Hume and Hovell passed this place on 19 December 1824 on their way to Port Phillip. 100 years later the local residents of St Albans and Sydenham erected a Cairn to commemorate the event. The original position of the cairn was S 37 43.664 / E 144 47.569 but was moved ( due to road widening ) approx 8 years ago to its current location.

If you visit the current site and read the desription of the area in the link given you would not think it was the same place. My my the place has changed.

This link http://gutenberg.net.au/ausdisc/ausdisc2-09.html takes you to a narrative for the date mentioned from Hovell's field note book preserved in the Mitchell library, Sydney.

This cairn was erected conjointly by the Kew, Collingwood and Heidelberg City Councils as a memorial to Charles Grimes, Surveyor General of NSW and party the first white men to discover the River Yarra, reaching the Yarra Falls on 8th February 1803.
You can read more about Charles Grimes here: http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogG.html#grimes1

The transit of Venus in June this year was used by historians to remind us that this rare phenomenon, which also occurred in June 1769, was the main reason that an English naval chappie called Cook sailed to the south Pacific at that time. Only after observing the transit did he go on to map and ‘claim’ New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. But for this, the European settlement of the great southern land may have been done by the French. One French explorer was Louis Freycinet (see plaque). He took part in surveying Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania – which has a Freycinet Peninsula) and Terre Napoleon (we call it South Australia). Some bloke called Flinders had been here first and made up English names for this area, hence the two ‘contemporary’ statues in this memorial at Whyalla, Spencer Gulf, SA. A few French names remain, particularly for places where Freycinet did survey first, for example on the south coast of Kangaroo Island.
For more info see http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/encounter/intro.htm

This monument to Sir Thomas Mitchell (Major Mitchell of Cockatoo fame) marks the starting point of three of his four expeditions to explore inland NSW. On one he ended up on the coast of what is now Victoria, and another took him into Queensland following the Barcoo.

The monument stands at the corner of the Orange-Forbes road and the Manildra road. The property he started from is now a winery.

I arrived just after susnset, so photos are flash of the monument only.

http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/jsp/db/biography.jsp?authorId=2075&authorName=Thomas+Mitchell among others for more information.

This unlikely looking marker is the Durack Tree, located at what is now known as El Questro station in the eastern Kimberley, north Western Australia.

The eastern Kimberley area was first settled by Patrick (Patsy) Durack in 1882. Durack (1834-1898) was born in County Clare, Ireland, emigrated to New South Wales in 1853, made his fortune on the Ovens River diggings in Victoria and in 1868 established a property on a tributary of Coopers Creek in western Queensland. He was endlessly energetic and quickly established himself as one of the richest and most successful cattle owners in the area. In the early 1880s, after hearing good reports of the Kimberley country, he sent his brother Michael to inspect land on the Ord River. Michael's report was favourable and Durack organised the droving of 7250 breeding cattle and 200 horses to the region. The 3000 mile and three year long trek of cattle from Queensland to stock the Argyle and Ivanhoe stations was, at the time, the longest ever attempted in Australia.

The pioneering family left behind legacies of pastoralism, art, and agriculture. Their names are also attached to geographical features, chief among them the Durack river, which flows into the Cambridge Gulf west of Wyndham.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:UKR4igbnI1gJ:www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s1010319.htm+patsy+durack+-sale+-cart+-buy&hl=en
http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WALakeArgyleVillage.shtml
http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/WAWyndham.shtml

This plaque comemmorates George Bass, surgeon of H.M.A.S. Reliance, aged 27 years who took 6 six seamen and six weeks provisions in a 27'8" whaleboat to explore the coast South of Sydney.
They left Sydney on December 3rd 1797 and camped at this point from January 6th to 18th 1798. They originally stopped here in search of freshwater.
Bass named the bay he had entered Westernport Bay as the most Western Harbour in the strait which was later to bear his name.
For more information on George Bass visit the site below

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/flinders/biographies/bass1.html

Ross Smith Monument [Darwin, NT, Australia] - first UK-Australia flight

This monument commemorates the efforts of Australian aviators Ross and Keith Smith, and their crew who became the first people to fly between England and Australia. The flight took 27 days and 20 hours in a Vickers Vimy landing in Darwin on December 10, 1919. It earnt the brothers a £10,000 prize offered by the government to the first Australian airmen to complete the flight in less than 30 consecutive days before December 31.
The monument is at East Point at the end of where the former airfield was.

[This entry was edited by GeoWombats on Sunday, May 09, 2004 at 10:15:24 AM.]

Found this monument to one of Allan Cunninghams expeditions in Scone NSW. If you read it it states that he passed the location 30th april 1827, starting from Segenhoe homestead 10km away, and was looking for a pass over the ranges. Allan Cunningham was a botinist, and also specialised in finding transport routes over natural barriers and more information on his exploits can be found here: http://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/cunningham-allan.html

[This entry was edited by Jedda on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 12:00:05 AM.]

[This entry was edited by Jedda on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at 12:04:58 AM.]

Capt. Arthur Phillip r.n., after dumping all and sundry off at Sydney Cove, set out to find more suitable arable land to the north. He hioked a left at Broken Bay on 2nd March 1788 and proceeded to explore Brisbane Water & Cowan Creek before heading up the Hawkesbury River, reaching Dangar Island on 7th March, (which is co-incidently my daughters' birthday).

The plaque which comemmorates the event is located on the corner of Grantham Cres & Grantham Cres (yes, quaint isn't it) on Dangar Island at the base of a tree. For a more thorough (and slightly more reverent) account of Phillip's exploits can be found at;
http://www.hawkesburyhistory.org.au/articles/phillip.html

Thanks to The Rats for the chance to share a bit of our colonial past.

This monument in Port Wakefield, South Australia, recalls the area's first contact with Europeans. "Captain Matthew Flinders, Commander of H.M. sloop Investigator, discovered, and on 30 March, 1802 at the head of the Gulf, named it Gulf of St. Vincent after Admiral Lord St Vincent (John Jervis). The same day he named Yorke Peninsula, after the Rt. Hon. Charles Philip Yorke of the Admiralty. Flinders landed at the head of the Gulf and walked towards Hummock Mount." It is located beside the lagoon at Port Wakefield and is a reminder that this was once an area where sailing ships regularly visited. Mind you it is worth noting that Flinders found that the water here was so shallow that he had to row about 12 km and walk another kilometre through the mudflats and mangroves before he reached the true shoreline!

For more information about Matt Flinders go to http://www.davidreilly.com/australian_explorers/flinders/flinders.htm

Port Wakefield is located 99 km north west of Adelaide!.

Cheers, RAV4 Raiders

This is a monument to Hume and Hovell found in Broadford just off the Hume Highway (How apropriate) on my way back from albury (my second home during the weekends) to Ballarat (my home during the week) Yes I know its a long 4 hour drive but Im used to it and besides I got to do this cache!

More info on Hume and Hovell can be found at
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~gmcbryde/explorer/humehovl.html

This is the Burke and Wills statue at the corner of Swanston & Collins street in the Melbourne CBD.

Bass and Flinders Point, on Port Hacking near Cronulla NSW.
This area contains a stone monument and two plaques with information about the explorers. There is a good view of the entrance to Port Hacking from this point.

George Bass and Matthew Flinders are two of Australia's most famous explorers. They sailed past this headland in March 1796 and discovered and named Port Hacking.

For more info about Bass and Flinders and their explorations see http://gutenberg.net.au/pages/bass-flinders.html

Another log for the venerable John Oxley who camped overnight near this spot at the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek, Brisbane on 1st December 1823.

Another trip up north to check the TeamAstro caches and catch up with a few friends saw me resting here. Thought I'd dig the GPS out as there are NO CACHES (except mine!!) anywhere within coooeeee.

The plaque on this monument is a reminder of Burke and Wills who crossed here on 22 Jan 1861, almost 143 years ago to the day I logged this. The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860-1861 was the largest, costliest journey of exploration ever mounted in Australia. It was also one of the worst failures in Australian history, with many lives needlessly lost. Led by Robert O'Hara Burke and his navigator William John Wills, it set out to cross the "deep" continent from southern to northern coast - Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

More info on these 2 explorere can be found at the link below, managed by the fourth cousin, four times removed of William John WILLS who died at Coopers Creek in 1861.
http://website.lineone.net/~mike.wills/bwamelbourne.htm

clear skies
TeamAstro

Leeuwin's Land
In March 1622 the Dutch ship Leeuwin ("Lioness") rounded the south west corner of the Australian Continent. In 1627 Hessel Gerritsz noted on his chart the discovery in 1622 of.
"T Landt Van De Leeuwin".

This plaque celebrates it.

The sailers where not mentioned by name. Just the ship.
This is where the Southern and Indian oceans meet on the most south western point of the Australian main land. The location is called Cape Leeuwin and it also sports a nice old Light house.

The coast line was charted about 179 years later by another character featuring prominently on this web page. Mathew Flinders.

This web page describes a fair amount of early WA history. Look at the 5th paragraph down for this place.

http://www.regionalwa.com.au/WAinfo/WAHistory.htm

This web page has a bit about Dutch and the discoveries they made along the west Australian coast line.

http://www.spacetrekkers.fcpages.com/newpage18.htm

This memorial cairn can be found at indented heads on the bellarine peninsula there are two plaques on it, one for the centenary celebration of John batmans 1835 landing in the area (also for the landing of mathew flinders in 1802 but thats another cache for some one else!!!) the second is for the 150 year celebration in 1985
John batman was the founder of the city now known as Melbourne.
There is plenty of info on this Native born Australian pioneer at this web site http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/People/Batman.html
there is also info about the area and the landing of batman at http://www.zades.com.au/bellhs/indented.html

Let me tell you about John Oxley. He was the surveyor-general from New South Wales. He proposed a settlement adjacent to the deep water anchorage at the mouth of Breakfast creek (Which I have also heard is where he had breakfast and so named the water way Breakfast creek)

I found this while finding another cache (which is visible on my GPS), which suprised me that no one else had logged it. Oh well too bad for them.

Located and logged by
Jfreak


Find out more about John Oxley at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~gmcbryde/explorer/moroxley.html


[This entry was edited by jfreak on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 at 5:03:41 PM.]

Allow me to introduce you to Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki.

The notes below are from the plaque at the base. It was snowing when I was here with my wife Witchy Woo.

BTW - This is also the home of a Traditional Cache (how did they miss this opportunity?).

Born in Poland at Gluszyna, Poland, on 20 July 1979, Strzelecki arrived in Australia on 25 April 1839.

From 1839 to 1843 he explored and surveyed vast areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

While exploring in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales he discovered and climbed Australia’s Highest Peak ‘Mount Kosciusko’, which he named in honour of the Polish leader and patriot, Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

He discovered gold and silver in New South Wales, coal deposits in Tasmania, investigated the possibilities of irrigation, measured the heights of mountains, carried out soil analysis and collected and identified many fossils and minerals.

Strzelecki was one of the first scientists in Australia to undertake investigations in many fields including geology, mineralogy, meteorology and zoology.

A renowned explorer and scientist he contributed greatly to the knowledge and development of Australia.

This anchor is a monument to John Oxley, first Surveyor General of New South Wales. It was in 1818 that John Oxley crossed the Peel River Valley, north-west of the present site of Tamworth, on route to the coast, recording the river crossing in his journal, noting that ‘it would be impossible to find a finer or more luxuriant country than its waters...no place in this world can afford more advantages to the industrious settler than this extensive vale’.
http://parry.local-e.nsw.gov.au/about/01/1031018924_16443.html

This plaque marks the spot where John Oxley stopped for fresh water as he entered the Brisbane river. He apparently remarked that it seems like a reasonable place for a settlement - someone must have listened to him

This is a talking monument dedicated to Matthew Flinders. A device nearby has a recorded message about the navigator. It can be found in a park near White Patch on Bribie Island in Queensland. Attached photos show the monument and the plaque. More information can be found at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~fliranre/mflinders.htm

Manta.

Spotted this monument to Major Mitchell on the map near 'Oasis', and it was only a short detour. Another of the Major Mitchell was ''ere monuments, except he wasn''t here - he was somewhere nearby instead. Mitchell passed through here on 25th September 1836, and Mitchell later returned to Sydney with glowing reports of the countryside he had travelled through. Further details at http://www.pyreneestourism.com.au/lexton.htm

Thanks for the hunt!!

Born in Warwick, England, George William Evans was appointed acting surveyor-general in 1801. He explored and surveyed much of NSW and was the first European to cross the Great Dividing Range.
A google search for george william evans will turn up multiple references.

The monument is not far from the location of bottom points of the little zig zag.


[last edit: 3/31/2003 6:14:17 AM PST]

S 31° 57.375 E 115° 51.592
John Forrest (1847-1918) was a surveyor who made several expeditions into the centre of Australia. Together with his brother, they became the best known explorers in Western Australia. Both John and his brother were born in Bunbury, Western Australia. Later, in 1890, John Forrest became the first Premier of Western Australia. He was later elected to the federal government in 1901 and was made Baron John Forrest of Bunbury in 1918. By now he was in bad health and on July 30, 1918 he sailed for England for medical treatment. However, he died on the voyage, before reaching England.

An excellent account of his achievements can be found at this site.
(visit link)

[last edit: 2/20/2003 4:45:09 PM PST]

S 33° 45.400 E 151° 09.200
Capt arthur Phillip r.n. ( i didnt know he was a registered nurse!)
this is in Gordon, a suburb of sydney..
drove past for many years didnt know it was a n explorers memorial.



[last edit: 1/20/2003 11:57:21 PM PST]

[last edit: 1/21/2003 12:04:37 AM PST]

[last edit: 1/21/2003 12:11:57 AM PST]

S 34° 53.097 E 139° 37.301
This cairn and plaque is situated at Bowhill on the River Murray in South Australia.

A fantastic recount of Captain Charles Sturt's expiditions can be found at
(visit link)

So glad that we explore the outback in an airconditioned 4WD with a radio for communications!

S 33° 36.573 E 150° 48.758
This is Governor Macquaire at Windsor NSW, one of the Five Macquarie towns. The other five are.... well when I get around to setting my Macquarie Towns Cache ( A definate Multi cache - sorry two dogs ) you will learn the names of them.

(visit link)

Though not an explorer in the true sense he did push the colony to find and settle the farming lands that are now the Hawkesbury/Neapen, Camden and Parramatta Areas



[last edit: 12/6/2002 10:51:10 AM PST]

[last edit: 12/6/2002 10:57:09 AM PST]

S 27° 57.227 E 152° 43.281
FOUND by HOTANDSWEATY(This time only Dale and Kimberley with a special guest appearance by Catherine Caddy) On the way back to Ipswich from Maroon Dam where my teenager had been on a school camp, we noticed some plaques in the grounds of the National Parks and Wildlife Service at Boonah.

Investigations revealed the plaques were memorials to the explorers LOGAN, CUNNINGHAM and FRASER, who camped there on August 8 1828. I have chosen to focus on the explorer CUNNINGHAM for this cache as the adjoining plaque attests to him naming the nearby TEVIOT Brook as it reminded him of Teviot Brook in Scotland (I think its a bit hotter and drier here!!!)

A web site with some details about CUNNINGHAM can be located at
(visit link)

Cunninghams famous gap is located not far from this plaque.

S 34° 00.280 E 151° 13.013
The monument walk at Kurnell has numerous memorials to many of the explorers on the 'Endeavour'.

This particular marker commemorates the 'first' landing of British explorers in Australia at Kurnell in southern Sydney, Australia.

The plaque is to Issac Smith who was the first Englishman to land on the shores of what was to become New South Wales.

Try (visit link) for more details.

Regards from
The Odlids

[last edit: 10/1/2002 8:36:01 PM PST]

[last edit: 10/1/2002 8:40:50 PM PST]

[last edit: 10/1/2002 8:41:48 PM PST]

Mary & David visited this memorial to Burke and Wills at 1215. The monument, made from bluestone rocks, is in Royal Park Melbourne, not far from the zoo, and marks the spot from where Burke and Wills set out on their ill-fated expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria on 20 August 1860. An excellent web site covering the expedition in great detail can be found at http://www.burkeandwills.net/burkeandwills.html

[last edit: 9/9/2002 4:42:42 AM PST]

S 34° 55.636 E 138° 36.014
John McDouall Stuart. First man to cross the continent and get back alive. The expedition left from very near this spot in Victoria Sq, Adelaide.

And there is a society. The url is a link worth pursuing if you want more information.

(visit link)

[last edit: 9/10/2002 7:58:52 PM PST]

S 34° 09.145 E 150° 47.524
We don’t have to go far to find explorers around our neck of the woods with names like Mawson, Mitchell and Hume. Hamilton Hume was the first Australian born explorer. The marker commemorating the start of a local lad called Hamilton Hume’s walk to Port Phillip is just down the road from us. It also happens to be on the most dangerous section of the Appin road and there is often serious car crashes just in front of the monument.

(visit link)



[last edit: 9/7/2002 3:01:53 AM PST]

S 35° 17.433 E 149° 07.781
This is the Captain Cook memorial in Canberra near Lake Burley Griffin. It is a globe of the world with the travels of Captain Cook indicated with different coloured lines. Captain Cook was first to discover that there was no “Great Southern Land†that balanced the Northern Hemisphere of the world. He also was the first to map vast portions of the Australian coast.

More info can be found at the following websites: (visit link)
(visit link)

Or, for more information about Captain Cook, you can visit (visit link)

[last edit: 9/5/2002 3:57:49 PM PST]

This Obelisk marks the spot Hume and Hovell passed on their exporatory trip to Victoria.

S 37 02.180 E 145 09.361

They tried to reach the sea via the Great Dividing range south of Yea but were forced to return via Seymour due to extremely dense bush. Mt Disappointment near Melbourne is the spot they named in their frustration.
More info is available at:

(visit link)

This Obelisk is 3kms from where we live

S 33° 47.952 E 151° 17.043
Captain Arthur Phillip
The first white man to land in Manly Cove

www.ozemail.com.au/~tourism/sydney/north/manly/mhist.html

One of many monuments to white settlement in the Manly area