John Oxley

This article is about the person. For the Australian pilot ship, see John Oxley (ship).

John Oxley

John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1783/1785? – 1828) was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of English colonisation.

Background

Oxley was born at Kirkham Abbey near Westow, North Yorkshire, England, the eldest son of John Oxley and his wife Isabella, who was the daughter of Irish Viscount Molesworth. He joined the navy in 1799 as a midshipman in the Venerable, and transferred in November 1801 to the Buffalo, in which as master's mate he sailed to Australia.

Arriving there in October 1802 he was engaged in coastal survey work including an expedition to Western Port in 1804-05. In 1805 Governor King appointed him acting lieutenant in charge of the Buffalo, and in 1806 he commanded the Estramina on a trip to Van Diemen's Land. Next year he returned to England where on November 25, he was commissioned lieutenant. He came back to Sydney in November 1808 to take up an appointment as first lieutenant in H.M.S. Porpoise, having sailed out as agent for the Transport Board in the convict ship Speke, in which he shipped goods worth £800 as an investment. He had obtained an order from the Colonial Office for a grant of 600 acres (2.4 km²) near the Nepean River, but Lieutenant-Governor Paterson granted him 1000 acres. Oxley had to surrender these in 1810, but Governor Macquarie granted him 600 acres (2.4 km²) near Camden which he increased in 1815 to 1000 acres again. This he called Kirkham.

When Paterson allowed the deposed Governor Bligh to leave Sydney in the Porpoise in March 1809 Oxley was aboard and sailed with Bligh to the Derwent. Next year he wrote a lengthy report on the settlements in Van Diemen's Land before sailing for England in the Porpoise in May. In London he applied for the post of Naval Officer in Sydney, and then, after paying C. Grimes to resign, according to John Macarthur, he twice sought that of surveyor-general. Oxley denied that he had been a partisan of Macarthur when Bligh was deposed, but his letters show that he was on very intimate terms with the rebel leader. In 1812 he became engaged to Elizabeth Macarthur; this was broken off when her father discovered the extent of Oxley's debts. By that time, through the influence of Macarthur's friend Walter Davidson, Oxley's second application for the surveyor-generalship had been successful. In 1811 he had retired from the navy, and in May 1812 sailed for Sydney in the Minstrel to take up his new duties.

Naval career

John Oxley entered the Royal Navy when he was aged eleven. He travelled to Africa in October 1802 as master’s mate of the naval-vessel Boo, which carried out coastal surveying (including the survey of Western Port). In 1805 Oxley was promoted to second lieutenant. In 1806 he commanded the Estramina on a trip to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). He returned to England in 1807 and was appointed first lieutenant in charge of HMS Porpoise, joining her in 1808. In 1809 HMS Porpoise visited Van Diemen's Land, carrying as a passenger Governor William Bligh who had been deposed in the Rum Rebellion.^[1]

Surveyor-General of Lands

Oxley again returned to England and on 1 January 1812 was appointed Surveyor-General of Lands in New South Wales. In April 1815 he was with Governor Macquarie when Bathurst was founded.^[2]

Lachlan River expedition

In March 1817 John Oxley was instructed to take charge of an expedition to explore and survey the course of the Lachlan River. He left Sydney on 6 April with George Evans as second-in-command, and Allan Cunningham as botanist. Evans had discovered a portion of the Lachlan River west of Bathurst in 1815. Oxley’s party reached Bathurst after a week, where they were briefly detained by bad weather. They reached the Lachlan River on 25 April 1817 and commenced to follow its course, with part of the stores being conveyed in boats. As the exploring party travelled westward the country surrounding the rising river was found to be increasingly inundated. On 12 May, west of the present township of Forbes, they found their progress impeded by an extensive marsh. After retracing their route for a short distance they then proceeded in a south-westerly direction, intending to travel overland to the southern Australian coastline. By the end of May the party found themselves in dry scrubby country. Shortage of water and the death of two horses forced Oxley’s return to the Lachlan. On 23 June the Lachlan River was reached: “we suddenly came upon the banks of the river… which we had quitted nearly five weeks before”. They followed the course of the Lachlan River for a fortnight. The party encountered much flooded country, and on 7 July Oxley recorded that " it was with infinite regret and pain that I was forced to come to the conclusion, that the interior of this vast country is a marsh and uninhabitable ". Oxley resolved to turn back and after resting for two days Oxley’s party began to retrace their steps along the Lachlan River. They left the Lachlan up-stream of the present site of Lake Cargelligo and crossed to the Bogan River and then across to the upper waters of the Macquarie, which they followed back to Bathurst (arriving on 29 August 1817).^[3]

Macquarie River expedition

Oxley travelled to Dubbo on June 12 1818. He wrote that he had passed that day 'over a very beautiful country, thinly wooded and apparently safe from the highest floods...'

Later in 1818 Oxley and his men explored the Macquarie River at length before turning east. On August 26 1818 they climbed a hill and saw before them rich, fertile plains, which they named the Liverpool Plains. Continuing east, they discovered the Peel River, near the present site of Tamworth. Continuing further east they crossed the Great Dividing Range and came upon the Hastings River. Following it to its mouth, they discovered that it flowed into the sea at a spot which they named Port Macquarie.

In 1819 Oxley sailed to Jervis Bay but found it to be unsuitable for settlement.

In 1823 Oxley set out northwards along the coastline, in the cutter Mermaid to explore Port Curtis (the site of Gladstone) and Moreton Bay. He continued to explore the region, which is now known as South East Queensland.

In 1824 Oxley, accompanied by Allan Cunningham, discovered the Brisbane River and Bremer River on Moreton Bay, which has since developed into the city of Brisbane.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted him 600 acres (2.4 km²) near Camden in 1810, which he increased to 1000 acres (4 km²) in 1815. He named this property Kirkam and raised and bred sheep. He was also briefly a director of the Bank of New South Wales. He was one of five members of the original New South Wales Legislative Council in 1824, but was not reappointed when the council was reconstituted in 1825. Oxley had two sons with Emma Norton (1698-1885), whom he married in 1821 and earlier two daughters by Charlotte Thorpe and one by Elizabeth Marnon.

The Oxley Highway in New South Wales, Oxley Island on the north coast of New South Wales, the Federal electorate of Oxley (Queensland), the New South Wales Electoral district of Oxley, the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park and the suburbs of Oxley, Queensland and Oxley, Australian Capital Territory are named after Oxley. The John Oxley Library, part of the State Library of Queensland, is dedicated to preserving and making available Queensland's documentary history.

References

^ Serle, op. cit.
^ Serle, op. cit'
^ ‘Journal of an Expedition in Australia – Part 1’, Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales by John Oxley.

External links

Works by John Oxley at Project Gutenberg
Serle, Percival (1949). "Oxley, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
Online edition of his writing
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online