Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Sketch shewing the different lines of road descending from the Blue Mountains towards Bathurst

Sketch shewing the different lines of road descending from the Blue Mountains towards Bathurst

1855
A 331 (opp. p 20)
Pencil and ink drawing

When the controversial Scot Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell arrived in New South Wales in 1827 to take up the post of assistant surveyor-general, the Survey Department was in shambles. Mitchell quickly introduced new techniques and technologies to the ill equipped and under resourced department at the crucial time when the expansive inland areas of the colony were being opened up by settlers.

Mitchell created this plate for Progress in Public Works & Roads in NSW 1827-1855, a report that was probably used as part of the evidence prepared for an inquiry into the accuracy and efficiency of the Surveyor-General's Department. This document is based upon the sketches Mitchell made between 1827 and 1830 when he discovered and marked out a new descent from Mount Victoria to Bathurst on the western side of the Blue Mountains.

This map compares two passages across the mountains: the ‘Present Road’ (which was then in use) created by engineer William Cox in 1815, and ‘Major Mitchell’s marked line’. Cox’s route avoided the worst of the ridges, but forced people to travel in a wide, steep arc around Mount York which headed north then descend south-west into the Hartley Valley.

On 27 September 1851, Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell took part in the last known duel fought in Australia. He challenged politician Stuart Donaldson to the duel after Donaldson publicly criticised the Surveyor’s Department for overspending. Both men fired three shots, but the only damage sustained was a bullet hole through Donaldson’s hat.

Thomas Livingstone Mitchell gave his name to one of Australia’s most beautiful inland cockatoos, ‘Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo.’ He described the bird in this poetic description in his journal: ‘Few birds more enliven the monotonous hues of the Australian forest than this beautiful species whose pink-coloured wings and flowing crest might have embellished the air of a more voluptuous region’.

In 1850 Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell authored the New South Wales school text book The Australian Geography (980/M). This work must have been one of the first to place Australia at the centre of the world, but its educational technique now seems greatly outdated.

In addition to being a soldier, surveyor, map-maker, inventor (the ‘boomerang propeller’), amateur geologist and explorer, Mitchell was also an accomplished artist. Many examples of pencil sketches of plants, animals, humans and landscapes, lithographs and watercolours are held in the State Library’s collections.