Gregory Blaxland

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Gregory Blaxland, (1788-1855)

Pioneer farmer and explorer. Born in England in 1788 and came to Australia in 1806 as a free settler.

In 1813, he led the first known European expedition across the area of the Great Dividing Range known as the Blue Mountains with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth, on a journey which would open up the inland of the continent. He is also noted as one of the first settlers to plant grapes for the purpose of making wine.

In 1823 he published his Journal Of A Tour Of Discovery Across The Blue Mountains:

"On Tuesday, May 11, 1813, Mr. Gregory Blaxland, Mr. William Went worth, and Lieutenant Lawson, attended by four servants, with five dogs, and four horses laden with provisions, ammunition, and other necessaries, left Mr. Blaxland's farm at the South Creek, for the purpose of endeavouring to effect a passage over the Blue Mountains ..."

Blaxland died in 1855. The township of Blaxland in the Blue Mountains is named after him, as is the Australian Electoral Division of Blaxland.