They may have paved the way across the difficulties of the sandstone plateau, but they ended their exploration short of the Great Dividing Range.

The real honours went to another fellow, George W Evans, who retraced the route of the BLW expedition some five months after the earlier party’s return. George successfully crossed the watershed of the Great Dividing Range near Mt Cheetham just South of Rydal on November 30, 1813.

Evans’ reason for undertaking his trip was not in the interest of personal gain, the often-speculated motivation for Blaxland. Evans, acting in the public interest, under the direction of Governor Macquarie, was to explore to the west of BLW’s endpoint and to cross the watershed.

Taking as a guide James Byrne, one of the BLW expedition’s members, Evans arrived on November 25, 1813 at the distinctive hill that represented the terminus of the BLW expedition, naming that hill Mt Blaxland.

Five days later, after an arduous few days negotiating the steep country up onto the line of the Great Dividing Range, Evans crested the range and crossed into the Western watershed and down to the Fish River. The first European to cross the Divide, pass through the territory of the Gundungurra people and enter Wiradjuri land.

From this point on, Evans’ journal of the trip reads with an ascending excitement about a land of true plenty, a land that progressively got richer; the grass more sumptuous, the wildlife more prolific and the fish and fishing beyond belief. ‘Nothing can exceed the fine appearance of this country’ he extols in his journal on Wednesday, December 22, 1813, as they returned from the end point of their journey somewhere near present day Molong.

This was the pinnacle of Evans’ early achievements. After this journey Evans settled in Tasmania but was regularly recalled by Macquarie, first to accompany Governor Macquarie and his party to the site of present day Bathurst in 1815 and then to accompany the Surveyor John Oxley as second in command in expanding the known horizon of the Colony Northwest from Bathurst.

Subsequently, Evans sold up in Tasmania and returned to England before coming back to Australia where he conducted a retail business before joining the Kings School in Parramatta as an art teacher, ultimately retiring to Tasmania.

Back in 1963, the Lithgow Historical Society took an enlightened decision to erect a small monument on Hampton Road incorporating a plaque acknowledging Evans and the members of his party.

Building on an original idea of Hampton resident, Ian Litchfield, this memorial is now being enhanced with an interpretive sign that incorporates a copy of the map that Evans created in 1813 showing the precise line of his survey, a brief biography of Evans and a summary of other earlier  attempts to reach the inland.

In a project initiated by the Lithgow branch of the National Trust and financed by Lithgow Regional Branch of the National Trust with Lithgow City Council and contribution from Hampton resident Bill Hoolihan, this new monument to Evan’s achievement will be unveiled on Saturday, November 25 at 10.30am.

For those wishing to attend, the site is in the Antonio Reserve on the Hampton Road, about five kilometres south of the Magpie Hollow Road junction. 

Paul Brunton OAM, Emeritus Curator of the State Library will be guest speaker at the event.

As a scholar that has curated exhibitions and published works on our early history, Paul is bound to throw new light on the life of Evans, one of our least heralded but most interesting early explorers. 

Following the event morning tea will be served at Bark Ridge 707 Hampton Road (optional). Please RSVP to Celia Ravesi Lithgow National Trust, for catering only at 6359 3109 or cerav@bigpond.com.