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Sat 2 Jun 1928 - The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)
Page 11 - JOHN OXLEY.
JOHN OXLEY.
Personal Notes.
(By T. C. ADAMSON.)
English in heart and limb,
Strong with the strength of the race.
To commend, to obey, to endure.
-Tennyson.
In these days of rapid transport, good roads,
prosperous inland towns, great irrigation
schemes, and Sydney with over a million in-
habitants, it is difficult to visualise Australia
as it was in the days of Oxley. 1783 to 1828.
a practically unexplored, vast continent.
When Oxley commenced his great work in
Australia the entire population was, say,
17,000 and there were about 66,000 sheep. So
stupendous and dangerous seemed the under-
taking to explore the interior that Macquarie
thought Oxley would be lost, and accordingly
he even made arrangements to appoint some-
one else to the explorer's position of
Surveyor-General.
BIRTH AND TRAINING.
Oxley (a Yorkshire man, as Cook was) was
born at Kirkhnm Abbey, near Westow, in
178-. His father and mother died while he
was still very young. He was never strong.
and throughout his life nobly endured much
suffering. Intensely patriotic, he had an
earnest desire to gain distinction in the
defence of his native land. He was appointed
to the Royal Navy in 1799. when 16 years of
age and served in the Channel Squadron, at
the West and East Indies, Cadiz, and Gib-
raltar. He first came to New South Wales
in 1802, when he brought from the Royal Navy
and Army letters of introduction to the
Masonic Lodge in English, French, and Latin.
In 1807 he returned to England, was re-
appointed to New South Wales in 1808, went
home with ex-Governor Admiral Bligh in 1810,
and on this occasion published soon after his
arrival a pamphlet on the sailing directions
of the South Seas. He was appointed
Surveyor-General of New South Wales on the
first day of 1812, at an annual salary of £273,
and reached Sydney on October 25 by H.M.S.
Buffalo.
In 1816 he was granted 1000 acres at Kirk-
ham, where he planted English oaks like a true
Britisher. There, too, he built a residence,
and a large barn, which still stands with
the date 1816 decipherable upon its walls.
Later on he was granted 800 acres adjoining,
and this estate he named Elderslie. He grew
wheat at Kirkham, and used windmill power
to grist it. Rust, however, killed the wheat-
growing industry.
He had a town house, about 1816, on the site
of the old Royal Hotel, George-street (this
has only recently been learnt in quite a ro-
mantic way), and subsequently resided in a
house at the corner of Macquarie and King
streets, where the Queen's Club now stands.
Trial Bay was so named by Oxley, when he
discovered the wreck of a craft named Trial,
which the convicts had stolen while the Mac-
quarie Lighthouse was being constructed.
A MAN OF SUBSTANCE.
As a man of substance and importance in
the community, he was one of the first direc-
tora of the Bank of New South Wales, 1817.
On Oclober 31, 1821, he was married at St.
Phillip's by the Rev. Wm. Cowper. In that
year Oxley, Goulburn, Berry, Douglas, Irvine,
and Wollstonecraft adopted a scheme for cir-
culation of their books. This arrangement
developed into the circulating library of 1826,
which was itself to become the nucleus of the
National Library. A copy of the rules of 1826
is in the Mitchell Library. In the first
Legislative Council, to which he was appointed
on August 11, 1824, he opposed trial by jury
In 1825, at the Agricultural Show, he was
awarded a silver teapot for the best Austra-
lian merino two-toothed ewe lamb, and won
prizes for the second best ram, and the third
best ewe.
To an estate granted him in Berrima dis-
trict he gave the name Wingecarribie. Bow-
ral now stands on a portion of it. His eld-
est son imported the first iron house into
Australia, and erected it at Bowral, where
it still stands. This son of Oxley's was evi-
dently an enterprising follow.
DEATH IN 1826.
In 1826, as Oxley lay grievously ill at Kirk-
ham, he sent to Governor Darling a recom-
mendation that Sturt should receive appoint-
ment as an explorer. On May 16 he died,
aged only 45 years. His body was brought
to his town house, and the Government ac-
corded him a full public funeral, which was
attended by representatives of the naval and
military forces, by Judges, and all prominent
citizens. The funeral service was held at
St James' Church. The body was buried in
the Devonshire-street cemetery, and it is ap-
palling to know that the large, flat, inscribed
tombstone was stolen, and used as a door-
step out Waverley way. By reason of this
vandalism his grave could not be identified
when Devonshire-street cemetery was abol-
ished,
Allan Cunningham, Flinders, King, Bligh,
Sturt, and other men of distinction were
among his friends. Cunningham, the great
botanical explorer, was buried beside him.
Captain Charles Sturt, in the journal of his
first expedition, wrote his tribute to Oxley
in these words "A reflection arose to my
mind, on examining the decaying vestiges
of a former expedition, whether I should be
more fortunate than the leader of it, and
how I should be able to penetrate beyond the
point which had conquered his perseverance
Only a week before I left Sydney I had fol-
lowed Oxley to the tomb. A man of great
quickness and of uncommon ability. The task
of following up his discoveries was no less
enviable than arduous." The "Government
Gazette" of May 27, 1828, paid a very high tri-
bute to Oxley's memory. It said: "Oxley
eminently assisted in unfolding the advan-
ces of this highly-favoured colony from an
early stage of its existence, and his name
will ever be associated with the dawn of its
advancement."
OXLEY MEMORIALS
The following memorials, of Oxley and his
work have been erected or proposed for erec-
tion in New South Wales:-
'(1) On the Manilla-road, about six miles
from Tamworth, there is a pedestal with an
R.N. anchor from H.M. survey ship Sealark
mounted on it, indicating where Oxley dis-
covered and named Peel's River. Mr. Holman
when Premier, dedicated this, September 2,
1918.
(2) The site has been identified where Ox-
ley camped on the Moore Creek Range on
March s, 1818. Notwithstanding many at-
tempts, the site of his camp that night has
never been found.
(3) Mr. Hargraves and others, of Walcha,
are planting some 200 pinetrees at Apsley
Falls, and a memorial tablet is to be erec-
ted.
(4) A compass and binnacle, period 1800
donated by the Lords of the Admiralty fiom
their museum, is in the Tamworth Council
Chambers as a token to Oxley's memory.
(5) There is a statue of Oxley in front of
Lands office in Sydney, erected 1893.
(6) Efforts are being made to have
memorials erected at Kirkham, Port Mac-
quarie, Harrington (where he crossed the Man-
ing River), and at Oxley's Lookout and Ox-
Peak, in the Liverpool Ranges.
(7) The Surveyor-General is at present en-
gaged in identifying Mount Sea View, from
which Oxley saw the sea, 1818, when en
route from Bathurst to Port Macquarie.
(8) The Bathurst Council is at present con-
sidering the question of erecting a memorial
to Oxley's memory He started from thence
to explore the Lachlan, as well as on his
expedition to Port Macquarie.
(9) There is a memorial cairn on the Lach-
lan River, 23 miles from Condobolin.
(10 Application has been made to
the Lords of Admiralty for three old R.N.
anchors t0 be used at various important sites
on Oxley's route.
Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16469328
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1203450
APA citation
JOHN OXLEY. (1928, June 2).The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved March 30, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16469328
MLA citation
"JOHN OXLEY."The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) 2 June 1928: 11. Web. 30 Mar 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16469328>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1928 'JOHN OXLEY.',The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 2 June, p. 11. , viewed 30 Mar 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16469328
Wikipedia citation
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16469328 |title=JOHN OXLEY. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |issue=28,209 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 June 1928 |accessdate=30 March 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}

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