45° 



The Review of Reviews. 



June 1, 1909. 



tain Hoicll agreed to find the men and the neces- 

 sary cattle. The Government supplied the ex- 

 pedition with six pack saddles and gear, a 

 tent, t\vo tarpaulins, a suit of slop clothes for each 

 of the men, a few bush utensils, a small quantity 

 of arms and ammunition, and two skeleton charts 

 for the tracing of the journey. 



Hiune had to sell a very fine imported iron plough 

 to help to raise money to purchase the necessary 

 supplies. They also took with them two of their 

 own carts. The expedition left Appin on October 

 3, 1824. While nominally there were two leaders, 

 the expedition owed its successful results to Hume. 

 It has been said that Hume was all "' determina- 

 tion, resource and hope : Hovell all timidity and 

 vacillation." 



Hovell was no bushman. Disputes between the 

 two leaders were of frequent occurrence. Again and 

 again, when tremendous difficulties had to be faced, 

 HoveU urged that the expedition should be aban- 

 doned. Hume's knowledge of bushcraft made him 

 fertile in resource. An impro\ised punt, made of 

 the body of a cart, covered with a tarpaulin, was 

 the means he devised for crossing the flooded Mur- 

 rumbidgee. The Murray, when discovered, was 

 crossed with a wattle boat thus constructed. The 

 bottom was formed of three pieces of stout saplings, 

 bound across the ends and middle by similar trans- 

 verse pieces. Through these were laced wattles, 

 which were bent up to form the sides, binding them 

 across from the opposite heads, to keep them from 

 springing outwards. This formed a square body, 

 on which was stretched the tarpaulin. 



Great difficulties were overcome in crossing moun- 

 tain ranges, and cutting through dense scrub. When 

 the neighbourhood of Kilmore was reached, the 

 supp!v of food was so limited, and the men so worn 

 0!it and dispirited, that they were indisposed to go 

 further. Hume compromised with them, agreeing 

 that if in three days there was no decided prospect 

 of making the coast, he would turn back. Three 

 days later the partv was encamped on the shores 

 of Corio Bay, opposite where the Bird-rock stands. 



The Government had promised to remunerate the 

 explorers for the use of their cattle, and make them 

 liberal grants of land, if any important discoveries 

 were made. 



On their return from their most important dis- 



coveries, money payment for the cattle was refused. 

 Hume had great difficulty in getting tickets of leave 

 granted to the three prisoners, who were regarded 

 as his own men in the party. He obtained an order 

 for 1200 acres of land, the value of which at tfiat 

 time was half a crown an acre, but he was under 

 the necessity of selling it to defray his expenses. 

 For some time he was an impoverished man, for 

 the sacrifices he made in the cause of Australian 

 exploration. 



In 1828 he was second in command of Captain 

 Sturt's exjjedition to trace the Macquarie River. 

 Sturt saw that Hume was '' an able, sagacious and 

 intrepid bushman." Hume ultimately engaged in 

 pastoral pursuits, on •' Coomer " station, on the 

 banks of the Yass. He lived to a good old age, 

 and is buried in the Yass Church of England 

 cemetery. 



A great injustice has been done to Hume, in the 

 substitution of the name of " The Murray " for Aus- 

 tralia's greatest river, for that of " The Hume." 

 Sturt only intended tlie name of " Murray " to apply 

 to the river where he discovered it, below its junc- 

 tion with the Murrumbidgee. But, except on a few 

 maps, Hume's name is not remembered. One of the 

 electorates of the Commonwealth House of Repre- 

 sentatives bears the Australian explorer's name. A 

 marble monument to his memory stands near the 

 historic gum tree, which he marked, close to Albury. 



Victorians owe him a debt of gratitude, Would 

 it not be an object worthy of the aims of the Aus- 

 tralian Natives' Association to seek to have justice 

 done to their distinguished fellow-countryman by 

 the restoration of his name to the river he dis- 

 covered ? Murray happened to be Secretary of the 

 Colonial Office when Sturt made his memorable 

 voyage down the river to Lake Alexandrina, and his 

 name was given on that account. Australia has not 

 done even scant justice to Hume and others. Lieu- 

 tenant Hicks, the first Australian to sight the coast 

 of "Victoria, and whose name was given by Cook to 

 the headland, has had his name removed from the 

 Australian map, and Cape Everard is substituted. 

 Thomas Boyd, who swam across the Murray with 

 the rope bv which the wattle boat was drawn over, 

 died near Albury in a wretched bark hut, attended 

 by a sickly daughter, and with scarcely the bare 

 necessaries of life. 



-^\^ 



