Hume and Hovell expedition

Surveyor General John Oxley asserted that no river could fall into the sea between Cape Otway and Spencer's Gulf, and that the country south of parallel of 34 degrees was ' uninhabitable and useless for all purposes of civilised men,' and for the time exploration in this direction was greatly discouraged.

Hume declined to undertake that task but instead offered, if supplied with men and horses, to go from Lake George to Bass Straits.

They found men and horses and bullocks; the Government furnished them with pack saddles, tarpaulins, tent, arms, ammunition, and skeleton charts.

The party, when complete, consisted of eight people, Hume and his three men, Claude Bossowa, Henry Angel, and James Fitzpatrick.

In those times, 'Lake George' also referred to the district, and Hume's station, Wooloobidallah—later called Collingwood Station—was closer to modern-day Gunning than to the lake.

The timber growing on the banks of this river was too heavy to float, so Hume resolved to make a raft of the body of one of their carts.

They came after this upon a very rich country, abounding in kangaroos and other animals, with frequent tracks of aborigines; and on Tuesday, 16 November, they arrived suddenly on the banks of a "fine river".

The party spent three days attempting to cross the Great Dividing Range at Mt Disappointment but were thwarted.

Hume shifted direction to the west and, on the 12 December, reached less hilly country at the future township of Broadford, where they camped.

[6] Hovell claimed that he had measured their longitude on the same day but, in reality, he had read it off the sketch map that they had drafted themselves during the trip.

[8] Prior to that admission, Dr William Bland, who wrote the first book on the journey in 1831, invented the myth that Hovell made an error of one degree in longitude in order to protect the explorer.

[13] [14] Relations between the "currency lad" (first-generation Australian) Hume and the aloof Englishman Hovell had deteriorated, and they raced each other back to Sydney to claim credit for their discoveries.

It took another thirteen years for settlers from New South Wales to follow their route in 1837, and only after the richness of the territory was confirmed by Sir Thomas Mitchell in 1836.

Within the Greater Melbourne area, monuments commemorating the route of the Hume and Hovell expedition can be found at Beveridge, Greenvale, St. Albans, Werribee and Lara.

Appin, New South Wales [16] Myrtleford [17] This Beveridge Monument and interpretive panel was built in 1999, at the foot of Mount Fraser, to mark the location from which Hume & Hovell first sighted the sea.