Major+Thomas+Mitchell

Major Thomas Mitchell

Major Thomas Mitchell was born on the 15th of June 1792. He was an explorer and leader of 4 major expeditions. He was a brilliant man who distinguished himself as a soldier, naturalist, draughtsman and surveyor. Thomas was writer of school scholarly work over a wide range of subjects which, most importantly, helped him on his expeditions. He was blunt, quick-tempered and hard to get along with. He had an impressive military record and had an intimidating presence. There was a strong rivalry between Thomas and Liedchardt. In fact, most of Thomas's expeditions, that he was the leader of, were to prove Liedchardt wrong. His parents were John Mitchell and Jane Nee Wilson. He had a family of 12 and was married to Mary Blunt. He migrated to Australia in 1827 at the age of 35 as an assistant surveyor.

First Exploration On this day, Thomas Mitchell was dispatched with 17 men and a team of pack horses to search for the "Great River" as described by a convict. This river was the Barwon River and it leaded into the Darling River. On this expedition there were no specific encounters with indigenous population.
 * When:** 1831

Second Expedition They took James Larmer (assistant surveyor), Richard Cunningham (botanist), and 20 other men for protection on this expedition. The objective was to find out if the Darling River lead out to sea, a hypothesis that Liedchardt had come up with. 10 days later, Cunningham had wandered off and the team presumed that he had been killed by aboriginals after 12 days of searching. This presumption was soon backed up by finding footprints leading into aboriginal land. They also found a torn map and some of his clothes ripped the native's ground. Continuing the expedition, Thomas lead the group to the Bogan River which they believed would lead to the Darling River. However, the water was too shallow to go by boat. After a months of traveling the expedition was abandoned on the 7th of September in the same year. This expedition was not major as they did not complete the objective .
 * When:** 7th of April 1835

Third Expedition ====In this expedition, they took 25 men and Thomas's personal assistant. They were told to follow the Darling River but Mitchell stopped at a point and decided to follow the Murray River instead. He found a river and named it Glenelg. Also, they followed a different river out to sea and explored the coastline. ==== ====Lastly, they discovered the Henty borthers who were the first permanent residents of the area. The brothers were the owners of their own farm which they called Henty Farm. After receiving supplies, Thomas headed back home. During this time, their camp was attacked three times by aboriginals. Thomas thought that the aboriginals were going to attack and had a pre-empted strike consequently killing seven natives. ====
 * When: **18th of March 1836

Fourth Expedition The expedition group had gone up to Queensland to survey the area. In these years Thomas had declared the names of many natural features. A large group had accompanied Thomas, including E.B.C Kennedy. While exploring, Thomas named a natural bridge of sturdy rocks "St George Bridge". Today this warea is where St George, the town, stands today. They followed Balonne to Maranoa and set up a camp. After setting up base camp, Thomas and some men moved forward to Cogoon. Here, they found "Mount Abundance", a fresh field of large meadow. They waited for E.B.C Kennedy to catch up to them at base camp but they were impatient and continued back to Maranoa.Here they discovered Warrago River. They stopped when Warrago River lead to Biirdekln River because it was already discovered by Liedchardt. There, they left west and discovered Barcoo River before returning back to the colony.
 * When:** 15th of December 1845-1846

Significance... The four expeditions were mainly about exploration. Thomas Mitchell named many geographical features during that time. Despite the fact that most of his expeditions were to overshadow Liedchardt, most of his works are greatly appreciated. In fact on the 12th of December 1836, many memorial cairns erected at Nyah West, Swan Hill, Cohuna, Mount Pyramid, Fernihurst, Wedderburn, Kanya, Stawell, Mount William, Horsham, Mtount Arapiles, Miga Lake, Harrow, Coleraine, Casterton, Dartmoor, Isle of Bags, Portland, Mount Rouse, Mount Napier, Hamilton, Lake Repose, Dunkeld, Middle Creek, Mount Greenock, Skipton, Mitchellstown, Nagambie, Castlemaine, Expedition Pass, Kyneton, Benalla, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Gooramadda and at a public park at Natimuk in honor of Mitchell's contribution to the exploration of Australia.

Bibliography: www.wikipedia.com.au  www.mapsof.net  http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-thomas-livingstone-2463  www.animoto.

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