September 1796 - Crossing the Blue Mountains
18 September 1796, Blue Mountains wilderness, Colony of New South Wales
It had been an arduous ten days since they had moved forward from the base camp he had established on an earlier expedition along the Nepean River. He had failed in 1794, but now there was no such failure. There had been hazards for sure. He had actually trodden on the head of a large black snake. Thankfully it had not been the brown type that were not only frighteningly aggressive but whose bites were almost universally fatal.
Henry Hacking considered now that it was that Bass and Flinders were both correct. Taking the black Bennelong had been more than useful, not only in terms of navigating the rugged country but also finding the vital path between the impenetrable escaladed perpendicular mountains without falling into the succession of deep ravines that dominated the region and trapped the unwary for fruitless days.
Now he stood on the top of exposed sugar loaf and the view was spectacular. Miles and miles of lightly timbered plains to the West as far as the eye could see. He scrambled down the slope as fast as possible, using the climbing irons provided by Bass and Flinders, re-joining them, the native Bennelong and their three other companions.
Two days later they had cut through the Blue Mountains. For almost 20 years, the Blue Mountains marked the edge of the Colony's Westward expansion. Now it's main requirement, more grazing land, which would help support the cropping and sheep of the colony. Henry Hacking himself would no doubt benefit in the best possible way, by provision of a hopefully land grant.
He remembered again the view from the top. Miles and miles of some of the best watered country that one could wish for. Land that seemed to go forever. For ever and ever.
Blue Mountains terrain
It had been an arduous ten days since they had moved forward from the base camp he had established on an earlier expedition along the Nepean River. He had failed in 1794, but now there was no such failure. There had been hazards for sure. He had actually trodden on the head of a large black snake. Thankfully it had not been the brown type that were not only frighteningly aggressive but whose bites were almost universally fatal.
Henry Hacking considered now that it was that Bass and Flinders were both correct. Taking the black Bennelong had been more than useful, not only in terms of navigating the rugged country but also finding the vital path between the impenetrable escaladed perpendicular mountains without falling into the succession of deep ravines that dominated the region and trapped the unwary for fruitless days.
Now he stood on the top of exposed sugar loaf and the view was spectacular. Miles and miles of lightly timbered plains to the West as far as the eye could see. He scrambled down the slope as fast as possible, using the climbing irons provided by Bass and Flinders, re-joining them, the native Bennelong and their three other companions.
Two days later they had cut through the Blue Mountains. For almost 20 years, the Blue Mountains marked the edge of the Colony's Westward expansion. Now it's main requirement, more grazing land, which would help support the cropping and sheep of the colony. Henry Hacking himself would no doubt benefit in the best possible way, by provision of a hopefully land grant.
He remembered again the view from the top. Miles and miles of some of the best watered country that one could wish for. Land that seemed to go forever. For ever and ever.
Blue Mountains terrain
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