Crossing the Blue Mountains: Blaxland, Wentworth, Lawson — Separate Expeditions

The 1813 Blue Mountains crossing is often conflated — but Blaxland, Wentworth, and Lawson led separate parties with different outcomes.

Gregory Blaxland's Expedition (May 1813)

• Party: Blaxland, William Wentworth, Lt. William Lawson, 4 servants, 4 pack horses, 5 dogs
• Duration: 21 days (May 11 – May 31)
• Route: Emu Ford → Glenbrook → Springwood → Wentworth Falls → Katoomba → Mount York → Cox's River
• Method: Ridge-top travel (not valleys) — key insight
• Result: Reached western grasslands; returned to report

William Lawson's Separate Expedition (Feb–Apr 1813)

• Earlier: Lawson (then Lt., NSW Corps) led own party before Blaxland
• Duration: ~2 months (February – April)
• Outcome: Reached similar area; less documented; didn't return via same route
• Note: Lawson later joined Blaxland's party as surveyor

William Wentworth's Role

• Young (22), ambitious, well-connected
• Journalist for Sydney Gazette — published account
• Later: explorer, politician, constitution drafter, university founder

Why It Mattered

• Ended 25 years of coastal confinement
• Opened Bathurst Plains → pastoral expansion, gold (1851)
• Cox's Road built in 6 months (1814-15) — 163 km, convict labor
• Wiradjuri country — displacement, conflict (Bathurst War 1824)

Blaxland's 21-day ridge-top crossing was the breakthrough; Lawson's earlier attempt contributed knowledge; Wentworth publicized it.