Hamilton Hume and William Hovell became the first Europeans to travel from Sydney to Corio Bay – despite their argument over a frying pan.
The Murray River flows strong and cold on the border between the cities of Albury and Wodonga.When no flutter of breeze found its way between the hills, we took chicken sandwiches and wine to the riverbank and floated on the chilled stream, and in the gentler evenings we wandered beneath the branches of big old gums in the parks nearby.
But when in 1938 it became clear even that drastic effort was failing to hold back time, seedlings were taken and three new trees were planted.And so, Hovell Tree Park, the Murray flowing by, retains its arboreal link to the past. Their squabbling blew into fiasco three weeks into the trek. Flummoxed by tough hill country west of the Snowy Mountains, and maddened by mosquitos and small biting flies, Hume and Hovell argued furiously about the best route forward.
At the Murray, after Hovell left his name carved into the tree by the riverbank, they built a boat from saplings to cross the river further upstream. They had taken three months to reach Corio Bay, near present-day Geelong, and 31 desperate days returning. The bicentenary this year is a relatively modest affair, though commemorative events are being held at Goulburn, Yass and at Albury’s Hovell Tree Park, and plaques and cairns are being re-worked, or new signage erected, along the expedition’s 1824 route.There is, happily, no evidence Hume and Hovell came into conflict with Aboriginal people during their overland voyage, and Hume was notably at ease when he was at one point accompanied by a whole Indigenous clan to a gathering.
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