John Oxley -Inland Australia Explorer

Honours

1823 -The Brisbane River

Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted Oxley 600 acres near Camden in 1810, which he increased to 1000 acres in 1815.

Govenor Brisbane ordered Oxley to find a new place to send convicts, and asked him to explore Moreton Bay.

John Oxley

Some escaped convicts showed him the mouth of a large river and Oxley explored this river, with Allan Cunningham, for 20 kms and named it the Brisbane River.

There is a statue of Oxley at the Department of Lands building, in Sydney and one in Brisbane city too.

In 1976 his portrait was put on a stamp.

There have been many places named after Oxley like:

Oxley College, Oxley High School and John Oxley Library.

We have John Oxley Drive and Oxley Highway.

Oxley is a town in New South Wales. There are suburbs called Oxley in Canberra and Brisbane.

There are also the suburbs of Oxley Park and an Oxley Vale in New South Wales too.

Then there is Oxley Creek, Oxley Islands, Oxley's Plains and Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.

There has also been two submarines named HMAS Oxley. One in 1926 and another in 1965.

Oxley returned to Sydney and recommended the area for a convict settlement. This area is now the city of Brisbane.

Thanks for listening!

Hannah M

Expeditions:

1818 -The Macquarie River

1817 -The Lachlan River

Legacy

In 1818 Oxley led another expedition from Bathurst, also with George Evans, but this time to trace the course of the Macquarie River. Unfortunately, just like the Lachlan, the Macquarie River disappeared into "an ocean of reeds". Today we call this the Macquarie marshes.

John Oxley

-The Explorer

Oxley's party decided to go north-east to find another way when they discovered the Castlereagh River which they explored and went on to find the fertile lands of the Liverpool Plains.

With his Second-in-command, George Evans, Oxley surveyed and mapped the Lachlan River. They did discover good grazing land west of Bathurst, but swamps blocked their way! They had to give up and head North, but there they found the Macquarie River!

John Oxley played an important part in the exploration of eastern Australia because he mapped rivers and discovered good grazing and farming land and reported this information back to the colony. This helped Australia because it meant that we could grow more food and expand our colony more inland. He also helped discover the area that is now known as Brisbane.

John Oxley sailed to Australia as a surveyor with the British Royal Navy in 1801.

By 1812 he was the Surveyor General of New South Wales.

From there they went east and crossed the Great Dividing Range. Then they discovered the Hastings River and followed it to the ocean. Oxley named this coastal area Port Macquarie, after the Govenor.