Allan Cunningham

Oxley, Evans & Cunningham

Lachlan River expedition

20 April 1817 to 29 August 1817

“In 1817 Governor Macquarie ordered Lieutenant Oxley, the Surveyor-General, to trace the courses of the two rivers, the Lachlan and the Macquarie, and to ‘ascertain their final termination.’ In company with Oxley, there went on this expedition Evans; Fraser, to collect plants for Lord Bathurst; Parr, who acted as mineralogist to the party; and Allan Cunningham.”

Those rivers had been named by Evans, Deputy Surveyor-General. He named the Macquarie on his November-through-December 1813 trek in the wake of Blaxland, Lawson & Wentworth’s June 1813 return after having found a route across the Blue Mountains and the Lachlan on his exploration from Bathurst in May 1813, naming it on May 25^th when he came across the dry riverbed.

Diary excerpts

April 27th. Sunday. It having been arranged by Mr. Oxley that our two boats (that had been built here and intended as an assistance to us in carrying the more heavy provisions of flour and pork on the river) should proceed down the stream this morning as far as the creek where Mr. Evans, who first discovered the Lachlan, had terminated his journey, having been ferried over by the boats, I visited the rocky hills on the left bank in company with C. Fraser of the 46th Regt., who had been sent as one of our party, in order to form a separate collection of seeds and specimens for Earl Bathurst. We were both well armed in case of attack from the natives. Fraser had been before on these hills, in his pursuits of the Flora (to which he is very much attached) during the period of time he had been at this depôt, viz: about one month. Having crossed the grassy flats near the River we ascended the rugged stony hills, where I found the following interesting plants.

Pimelea linifolia, scarcely in flower, a slender gigantic shrub 5 or 6 feet high. Epacridea,: Leucopogon sp., differing from the species I discovered yesterday in having a smoother calyx. Campanula sp., or a var. of C. gracilis.

Bossiaea sp., with the habit and appearance of B. microphylla.

Hibbertia sp., allied to H. ovata, leaves sharper and lanceolate, with a minute asperity, as in H. ovata. The flowers are decandrous. Aster sp., herbaceous, flowers blue, leaves filiform. Aster echinatus, a shrub with linear leaves glandularly echinated on the upper surface…flowers white. Acacia obliqua is very common on these sterile hills. Persoonia sericea, with leaves oblong, cuneated, which, with fruit and branches, are covered with silky hairs. Epacrideae: a shrub of same genus as above, flowers red. I likewise discovered a new Acacia, allied to A. albiflora, the icaves are triangular, and the head of flowers is rounded; and another species with elongated oblong leaves, attenuated at base, flowers in axillary spikes.

Gompholobium latifolium is frequent with the above. In the rich flats, upon my return to the boat, I gathered some grasses, among which is a Phleum and in low inundated situations a singular dwarf plant, which I could not detect in flower, it appears to be Adiantum and is remarkable for its 4-lobed fronds.

Our boats being loaded with the Government Rations of flour and pork we sent them down the river with the intention of overtaking them to-morrow afternoon. By observation taken by Mr. Oxley the site of the dep6t is in lat. 33°39’48” S., and Long. 148°39′ E. By barometrical observation it was ascertained that we were not above 650 feet above the level of the sea, and that we had descended from Bathurst Plains upwards of 1300 feet. This small elevation, contrasted with the great distance we were from the nearest point of the south-west coast, immediately suggested to us the great improbability of the Lachlan River running to the sea, and its soft muddy banks and general appearance and character of a periodical stream affording an outlet to the great body of rain falling on the Blue Mountains, seemed to coincide in the idea. When Mr. Evans first discovered it in June 1815, which was a dry season, he crossed it nearly dryshod on the trunk of a fallen Eucalyptus.

28th. Monday. Previous to my leaving the eastern coast I had provided myself with a quantity of peach stones of two qualities, some quince pips or seeds, and a few acorns, with an intention of committing a few of each to the earth at any remarkable situation where the soil was tolerably good and suitable for the growth of them. I sowed some of each at the depôt in the very rich soil on the bank.

This morning about 9 o’clock the following persons, who composed this grand Western Expedition, left the last human habitation westward in order to survey the river downwards and trace it to its supposed junction with the Macquarie, and the disemboguence of their union on the south-west coast:–Oxley Esqre. Surveyor-General; Mr. G. W. Evans Assist. do.; Charles Fraser of 46th Regt., as collector for Lord Bathurst; S. Parr, a boat builder; and seven persons as loaders of pack horses, and myself. Thirteen in all, with 14 horses and 2 boats.

We passed over the fertile flats, which have been inundated as we ascertained from the marks of flood on the timber, and stubble having been washed against the large Eucalypti, with which the banks are clothed. Travelling about 7 miles we arrived at a creek running in a serpentine form from the river in a north-easterly direction. As our baggage horses would not overtake us for some hours, we proposed to halt and pitch our tent on the opposite side of the creek for the night. The soil of the higher lands at a short distance from the river is of a stiff loam, and in some situations rocky and sterile, but the lower grounds are rich and covered with strong grass.

Between the depôt and the creek, which Mr. Oxley had named Lewis’s Creek, Lotus australis, Swainsona coronillaefolia, and a creeping Hedysarum are occasionally to be met with. The marsh mallow is very abundant, Callitris australis is now very common on the hills, although of no size or bulk. Casuarina stricta (usually called Swamp Oak) is likewise very fine and large on the muddy banks. By the assistance of our boats we conveyed our baggage over the creek, which although not above 12-10 feet wide is very deep, and swam over our horses. I took a walk on the rocky barren hills in the neighbourhood and discovered the following plants:–Grevillea sp., a beautiful shrub, with a calyx covered exteriorly with a ferruginous tomentum, and smooth and green in colour inside; Ajuga sp., with large blue flowers and much of the habit of A. pyramidalis; Phyllanthus sp., a low shrubby plant; another species with narrow, obtuse, cuneated leaves, revolute at the margins; Bidens sp.; Dodonaea cuneata, with cuneated leaves; and Astroloma humifusum, a trailing plant, is abundant in flower and fruit. We gathered on the hills some fine specimens of crystallized quartz, some fine crystals, and some dark specimens of granite. Mr. Oxley wrote to the Governor upon the subject of the river. Richard Lewis, a superintendent at Bathurst, who accompanied us to the creek which takes his name, returned to that settlement. Our people caught some fine large fish of the same kind as those before noticed.

29th. Tuesday. Continued our journey westward on the right bank of the river and, travelling from point to point rather than follow the stream through all its abrupt windings, I found the plants to be nearly the same with little variation as those observed some days previously. The following are the specimens collected in this day’s route:–A drooping melancholy shrub of the genus Stenochilus, which I have termed S. longifolius, now presents itself in brushy sterile tracks near the river. Gnaphalium sp., much allied to G. carnatum, is common among the grass; and Podolepis rugata, the peduncles of which near the insertion in the calyx are scaly. On the immediate bank of the river I gathered seeds and specimens of a species of Viola, with leaves on elongated pitioles; also a shrub of the order Rubiaceae, 4 feet high, branching, diffuse, leaves oblong, seeds covered with an arilla. Persoonia spathulata, discovered first on the S.W. coast, is now in fruit on the rocky hills. On ascending a rugged height covered with loose fragments of stones and hence rendered difficult of ascent, we had an extensive view of the western country commanded by such an eminence. The country appeared exceedingly low and flat with a few hills or ascents scattered on its surface. On this elevation I discovered a new species of Acacia, forming a small tree 25 feet high, the leaves are linear-lanceolate, and the flowers are in axillary spikes, which are cylindrical. It is much allied to A. longifolia, except in the shape of the foliage and their gray colour. From the circumstance of this tree being the wood of which the natives in the Western Country make their spears (which I have proved), and of which I shall state more particulars hereafter, I have called it A. doratoxylon. It is scarcely in a flowering state. Cupressus australis is common on these heights. Hovea sp., this is a slender shrub, frequent on the mount.

Mr. Oxley having taken the necessary bearings, we all descended to the river and traced it down about three miles, halting for the night a few miles short of our intended resting place at the creek where Mr. Evans terminated his journey westerly in June 1815. The river now began to show its true character. Our boat’s people found it shoaly and narrow in some places, and in consequence of its numerous and very abrupt windings they did not overtake or arrive at the spot on the immediate bank of the river where we were encamped till a late hour. I gathered specimens on the flats of a fine species of Bromus, and these plains were covered with clumps of Acacia decurrens [Queen Wattle].

The rocky hills are covered with a twining shrub, a Bignonia but it was not in flower fit for examination. With it I observed a plant with the habit of an Aster, resembling A. argophyllus [= Olearia argophylla], but without that musty scent with which their leaves are furnished. Our people shot a long-necked water bird like a cormorant. Eucalyptus robusta or Brown Gum disappears, and chiefly Stringy Bark (Eucalyptus sp.) and Blue Gum prevail. A beautiful species of Acacia, a small tree with bipinnate leaves, and flowers in elongated spikes; the whole plant has a glaucous hue. In consequence of its beautiful appearance I have called it A. spectabilis [Mudgee Wattle].

April 30th. Wednesday. Having sent our baggage horses forward and despatched our boats down the river directing them to stop at the creek that runs from the river on its right bank, we struck across the country a few miles, in order to examine some Callitris, said to be abundant on the lands distant from the river, which Mr. Evans had noticed on his tour before referred to. These Cypress trees we found of various sizes and dimensions from seedlings, generally growing in clumps, to lofty trees of about 60 feet, and about 3 feet in diameter at the base. It has been suggested that stems might be procured that would form good spars or booms, it is, however, much to be feared that in consequence of the many knots on its trunk or stem it would be found extremely brittle and short.

A species of Xerotes, with round filiform leaves, common on Bathurst Plains, is frequent among the grass. The standing waters abound with an Actinocarpus [Water star] remarkable for its capsule. Returning in a westerly direction we made the creek which has taken the name of Byrne’s Creek, and we traced it up to its mouth at the river. Here I discovered a new plant of the liliaceous family of the genus Pancratium. The flowers are small, of a whitish flesh colour, varying to a bluish and light orange colour. They are when fresh, May or White-thorn scented. It is now in flower, and is viviparous, producing a small bulb instead of a capsule, which in time falls to the ground and taking root ensures the future offspring. It being a new species I have named it P. Macquaria [= Calostemma purpureum][*] in honour of His Excellency Lachlan Macquarie, Esqre., our worthy and much respected Governor, during whose arduous administration the colony of New South Wales has been enlarged and beautified in an eminent degree, and by whose meritorious and praiseworthy exertions the western part of the Continent has been laid open, as well to the labours of the industrious agriculturalist as to the no less laudable research of the unwearied naturalist. This species of Pancratium delights in a low damp situation, its bulbous roots were with some difficulty dug up, being so very deep in the rich black soil on the banks of the river. The woody lands are alternately grassy and bushy, with slight inundations.

[* The name Pancratium macquaria is only mentioned in the “Botanical Magazine,” under Calostemma purpureum, at t. 2100, as a synonym of that plant.]

Near the river we fell in with a large and spacious lagoon of considerable length and breadth but not deep. On its surface were swimming great numbers of waterfowl, such as swan, duck, teal, which we fired at in vain. Such was the steepness and muddiness of Byrne’s Creek that it became indispensably necessary to form a kind of sloping road for our horses to descend to the water. Our boats having carried over our horse-cargoes, we swam the animals over and pitched our tent on the bank.[*] About a mile down the creek, in shallow water, we saw a bark canoe, and the remains of small fires in the woods adjoining are indications that the natives had recently visited this part of the country.

[* Near Eugowra.]