Hamilton Hume, Our Greatest Explorer by Robert Macklin
A present from my son Matt in 2016, this is a new book (published 2016) that I had not heard about before. We all learnt about the explorations of 'Hume and Hovell' so the name was familiar. What Australian journalist and author Robert Macklin has produced is a well researched biography of the great Australian who, most notably, led the first expedition from Sydney to Port Philip bay – the future site of Melbourne. It is also a potted history of the early colony of NSW, with its many intrigues and characters.
While the author boldly captions Hume as 'Our Greatest Explorer', I beg to differ. He was indeed a wonderful bushman and successfully opened up the unknown land between Sydney and the future Melbourne, forging rivers, negotiating swamps and mountain ranges and dealing with the many local aboriginal peoples he met, as well as dealing with a co-captain in William Hovell, an inept and bumbling explorer who, post feat, claimed the main honours for himself. While Hume's feat was probably one of the most important journeys undertaken in Eastern Australia, it is a big leap to call him the best of the best.
But with that being said, he does come across as a wonderful bushman and a very able explorer.
But his feats in this trip are but a small part of the book which paints a big picture of the early NSW colony with its various governors, some good but the majority lacking, and traces the inevitable path to nationhood for the fledgling outpost. In this context, it deals with the awful genocide and displacement of the aboriginal nations, the gold rushes and the bushrangers. It is indeed a wide ranging introduction to early Australian history.
Hume is immortalised by the Hume Highway, the main thoroughfare between Melbourne and Sydney. But I didn't know that the Murray River was originally named as the Hume River, Sadly, the river was subsequently renamed the Murray River, after a much less deserving person.
Overall, a very well written and enjoyable book by a prolific journalist and writer at the peak of his powers. Highly recommended.
A present from my son Matt in 2016, this is a new book (published 2016) that I had not heard about before. We all learnt about the explorations of 'Hume and Hovell' so the name was familiar. What Australian journalist and author Robert Macklin has produced is a well researched biography of the great Australian who, most notably, led the first expedition from Sydney to Port Philip bay – the future site of Melbourne. It is also a potted history of the early colony of NSW, with its many intrigues and characters.
While the author boldly captions Hume as 'Our Greatest Explorer', I beg to differ. He was indeed a wonderful bushman and successfully opened up the unknown land between Sydney and the future Melbourne, forging rivers, negotiating swamps and mountain ranges and dealing with the many local aboriginal peoples he met, as well as dealing with a co-captain in William Hovell, an inept and bumbling explorer who, post feat, claimed the main honours for himself. While Hume's feat was probably one of the most important journeys undertaken in Eastern Australia, it is a big leap to call him the best of the best.
But with that being said, he does come across as a wonderful bushman and a very able explorer.
But his feats in this trip are but a small part of the book which paints a big picture of the early NSW colony with its various governors, some good but the majority lacking, and traces the inevitable path to nationhood for the fledgling outpost. In this context, it deals with the awful genocide and displacement of the aboriginal nations, the gold rushes and the bushrangers. It is indeed a wide ranging introduction to early Australian history.
Hume is immortalised by the Hume Highway, the main thoroughfare between Melbourne and Sydney. But I didn't know that the Murray River was originally named as the Hume River, Sadly, the river was subsequently renamed the Murray River, after a much less deserving person.
Overall, a very well written and enjoyable book by a prolific journalist and writer at the peak of his powers. Highly recommended.
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