Gregory Blaxland (1778 - 1853)

Born 17 Jun 1778 in Fordwich, Kent, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Spurdon) Blaxland — married Jul 1799 in Canterbury, Kent, England

Descendants

Died 1 Jan 1853 at age 74 in New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Australia Project WikiTree [send private message]

Australian Explorers

Gregory Blaxland is managed by the Australia Project. Join: Australia Project Discuss: australia

Biography

Gregory Blaxland was an Australian explorer.

Gregory Blaxland is Notable.

Gregory Blaxland was an English pioneer farmer and explorer in Australia, noted for the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by European settlers.

Gregory Blaxland was born 17 June 1778 at Fordwich, Kent, England,one of four sons of John Blaxland and Mary Parker.^[1]

He married Elizabeth Spurdon in July 1799 and they had five sons and two daughters.^[2]

One of the Blaxlands friends was Sir Joseph Banks which is most likely why Gregory and his eldest brother John decided to emigrate to Australia. The government promised them land, convict servants and free passages. Leaving John to sell their Kent estates, Gregory sailed in the William Pitt on 1 September 1805 with his wife, three children, two servants, an overseer, a few sheep, seed, bees, tools, groceries and clothing. When he reached Sydney he sold many of these goods , and bought eighty head of cattle,and was promised forty convict servants. He also bought 450 acres (180 ha) at the Brush Farm near Eastwood from D'Arcy Wentworth for £1500.

Blaxland led the first known expedition across the area of the Great Dividing Range known as the Blue Mountains in 1813, along with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth, which would open up the inland of the continent

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

Blaxland returned to England and in February 1823 he published his Journal of a Tour of Discovery Across the Blue Mountains:

On Tuesday, May 11, 1813,, Mr. Gregory Blaxland, Mr. William Wentworth, 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 was awarded the silver medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1823 for some wine he had exported to London, and five years later he received its gold medal. With the early deaths of his second son, youngest son and wife along with others quite close to him he committed suicide on 1 January 1853 in New South Wales he is buried in All Saints Cemetery in Parramatta.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJMQ-ZL6 : 11 February 2018, Gregory Blaxland, ); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,836,029.
2. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NNWR-J8X : 12 March 2020), Gregory Blaxland, 1799.
3. ↑ Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVGM-4NFW : 13 December 2015), Gregory Blaxland, 1853; Burial, Parramatta, , New South Wales, Australia, All Saints Cemetery; citing record ID 111637176, Find a Grave, .

See Also:

• Jill Conway, 'Blaxland, Gregory (1778–1853)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blaxland-gregory-1795/text2031, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 10 June 2018.
• Wikipedia: Gregory Blaxland