Inland exploration

In New South Wales, the early colonists faced extreme hardship. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had learned to manage and live in this dry environment, although they too suffered in times of drought.

The Blue Mountains (approximately 50 kilometres to the west of Sydney) posed a great challenge to Sydney’s early inland explorers. In 1813, three men, Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth and William Lawson, finally managed to cross this mountain range. Today, the road and railway across the Blue Mountains still follows the route they took.

On the other side of these mountains, the explorers discovered open country that was good for raising sheep and cattle. Further inland they came across dry, desert country.

European explorers had trouble finding water and carrying enough food to survive. The German-born explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, disappeared while trying to cross the continent from east to west in 1848.

In 1860, Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills set out from Melbourne to cross Australia from south to north. They led a large expedition, but their crossing was very difficult. Burke and Wills were not experienced bushmen. They received expert help from the Aboriginal Yandruwandha people, but both explorers died on their way back. Although they failed to complete their expedition, their story is remembered in art and literature. It is a tragic example of the harshness of our land.