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Johnstone is credited as being the first European to discover the Clyde River and the following article appeared in A Statistical Account of the British Settlements in Australasia, W.C. Wentworth, Esq., Vol. 1, London, 1824:
pp. 156-164.
“.....And here, that I may give my readers all the information which has yet been obtained with respect to it and Bateman’s Bay, the Harbour into which it empties itself, I subjoin Lieutenant Johnstone’s official report to Governor Macquarie, of this recent and most valuable discovery, as extracted from the Sydney Gazette, of the 15th of December, 1821.
“SIR,
“In obedience to your Excellency’s Commands, to proceed in the Government Colonial cutter, Snapper, to examine the coast southward of Jervis’ Bay, and ascertain if a river falls into the sea near that place, I beg leave to report to your Excellency that I arrived off Jervis’ Bay on the 29th ult. and having closely examined the line of coast in the Snapper’s boat, as far south as Bateman’s Bay, without succeeding in my object, I returned on board, and determined on running into that Bay, to examine it; and accordingly anchored the Snapper on the 31st ult. under the westernmost island in three and a half fathoms of water, with a fine sandy bottom. I called this island ‘Snapper Island,’ after the name of the vessel. Shortly afterwards, I perceived an inlet in the head of the bay, bearing per compass north west by half west, distant two miles and a half; and which I have the satisfaction to report to your Excellency proved to be the entrance of a fine, clear, capacious river, having a bar over which I carried nine feet of water, which then deepened gradually in the space of a half a mile to six fathoms, from whence I carried regular soundings in from four to seven fathoms, the distance of twenty-five miles, and then encamped for the night on the western bank. Considering this river to be a discovery, I named it ‘the Clyde.’
“On my way up I saw several native fires near the banks. At one place I landed, taking with me two natives who accompanied me from Sydney; - upon which we were met by a tribe, who shewed no symptons of hostility towards us, but entered freely into conversation; and through my interpreters I learned the particulars of the melancholy loss of Mr. Stewart and his boat’s crew; as also of a man of the name of Briggs and his companions, who some time since made their escape from Port Jackson in a whale boat. Stewart, they said, having lost his boat near Twofold Bay, was endeavouring to make his way back by land to Sydney, when he and his crew were cut off by the natives of Twofold Bay. Briggs and his companions were upset in Bateman’s Bay, and being at a considerable distance from the land, were not able to reach the shore. Such was the account which the natives of this tribe gave of these catastrophes; but, as I saw knives, tomahawks, and part of the boat’s gear in their huts, I am of opinion that these runaways suffered the same fate as the unfortunate Stewart, and that this very tribe were probably their murderers.
“The next morning, following the course of the river, I proceeded about two miles further, when the rapids commence, having from two to three feet water over a stony ford, which, from the heaviness of the boat, I am sorry to say, put a termination to my proceeding any further; but I could perceive that the river again deepened, having a fine reach running to the north west, as far as I could discern. [From this description Johnstone had reached the Original Shallow Crossing Ford, which is downstream from the current Shallow Crossing Ford.]
“From the entrance, to the distance of fifteen miles, the banks of the river appear to be good forest land. Thence they assume an different appearance, being much lower and better adapted to cultivation. On the evening of the 2d [sic] inst. having returned on board, the examination of the river and bay occupied me until the 4th. And should it please the Government to establish a settlement on the banks of this river, I have no hesitation in saying, that communication can at all times be had with such settlement, as boats can land on either side of the bay, if the sea should make the bar impassable.
“Leaving Bateman’s Bay on the afternoon of 4th instant, I proceeded to the northward for Port Macquarie, off which place I arrived on the night of the 7th instant; and the next morning ran close in along shore, agreeably to your Excellency’s direction, to ascertain whether there was a bay that ships could ride in with safety, as had been reported to you. I examined the coast narrowly as far north as Smoaky Cape, and beg to report, that there is no bay or harbour within yhat distance in which ships can lie safely.
I herewith transmit for your Excellency’s information, a sketch of Bateman’s Bay and the River Clyde, which perhaps, together with my report, your Excellency will do me the honour to submit to his Excellency Sir Thomas Brisbane. Trusting my exertions in this small expedition, and the result thereof will meet with your Excellency’s approbation, I have the honour to subscribe myself,
“Your Excellency’ obliged
“Humble Servant
“ROBERT JOHNSTONE.
“From Lieutenant Johnstone’s report, it will be seen that, if the Clyde does not take its source in Lake George, (as will probably be found to be the case from the reasons which I have before assigned,) it at all events must approach within an inconsiderable distance of this lake, and that it will therefore afford an easy outlet for the produce which may be raised in the circumjacent country. With respect to that mountainous range, thought to be descried by Mr. Oxley, between Lake George and Bateman’s Bay, from another mountainous range, itself said to be fifteen hundred feet above the level of the lake, which is about three thousand feet above the level of the sea; - it must on reflection, I should think, be evident to the humblest capacity, that if any mountain or range of mountains had really existed between this lake and Bateman’s Bay, other than a branch or secondary range of the Blue Mountains themselves, Mr. Oxley, from such a height, could not have failed to perceive it, seeing that the distance between the two places is only forty miles. That a good deal of the intervening country may be mountainous is extremely probable, for Lake George itself is on top of a mountain;; but that any of it can possess any considerable elevation above the level of this lake, or of the contiguous country, is an absurdity which is not worth while to combat. The mere statement of the Commissioner carries with it its own refutation. Besides, this psuedo-geographer should have recollected, before he favoured my Lord Bathurst with his age speculations on the subject, that, if this imaginary range of mountains had really intervened between Lake George and the eastern coast, it would still have afforded very inadequate grounds for the conclusion at which he has thus rashly arrived. The [see footnote] learned gentleman might, I think, have contrived to remember that the Grose, the Warragumba, and the Wollondilly, have all delved their way through a mass of mountain of greater extent than the whole country between this lake and the mouth of the Clyde. Thus much, then, for the physical impossibility by which he has endeavoured to prove that Lake George cannot be the source of this river. With respect to the facilities, which those parts of these extensive southern regions, that do not lie within a moderate distance of the River Clyde or Bateman’s Bay, offer for the transport of agricultural produce to the Sydney market, (for it is quite out of the question from the general bulk of such produce that it can beat the cost of land carriage,) it will be seen, on examining the map of the colony, that such portions of the county of Westmoreland as lie northward of Bateman’s Bay at a such convenient distance from the navigable reaches of the Clyde, have an excellent navigable outlet in Jervis’s Bay, which is distant forty miles north of Bateman’s Bay, and eighty south of Port Jackson, and possesses safe anchorage and sufficient depth of water for vessels of the largest burden. There is not, indeed, any river discharging itself into Jervis’s Bay; but it has been ascertained that the country fro about fifty or sixty miles back into the interior presents no obstacle to the construction of roads. Tow several parties have penetrated to this bay from the county of Argyle; one led by Mr. Throsby, the original discoverer of the southern country; and the other by Mr. Hume, an enterprizing [sic] young man born in the colony. Mr. Throsby says, that a good road may be easily made to it; that the land through which this road would pass, ‘is extremely rich and promising, and that all the lagoons and streams, which he had met with in his way, are fordable,’ Mr. Hume’s account of the nature of the immediate country coincides in all respects with Mr. Throsby’s. He states, moreover, that a road may also be made wothout difficulty to Bateman’s Bay, which he alleges is not more than thirty miles from Jervis’s Bay, and separated from it by what he describes to be a very high range of rocky mountains; - which will doubtless prove to be a branch of the Blue Mountains running nearly at right angles with the main range, and terminating at the coast. The produce of that part of Westmoreland, therefore, which is situated southward of the range, would naturally find its way down the Clyde to Bateman’s Bay, and thence to Sydney; - while the produce of that country which lies northward of it, would be conveyed by land to Jervis’s Bay, or would be transported down Shoal Haven River (upon which it will be seen that part of the northern boundary of this county abuts,) according to the option of the grower, which would of course be regulated by the superior proximity to the one or the other. The agricultural produce of the counties of Argyle and Camden, excepting, however, that portion of this latter county which goes by the name of the Cow-pastures, it is probable, will all be conveyed to Sydney by means of the Shoal Haven River, as any one, who will take the trouble to examine the map of the colony, will readily perceive.
“[Footnote] I style the Commissioner thus; because he happens to be a barrister, and the courtesy of the profession assigns this title to all its members without distinction......”
Johnstone had reached the original Shallow Crossing ford, near where Shoebridge’s Mill was to be sited many years later, and not our contemporary concrete Shallow Crossing ford. This was originally known for many years as Brooman’s ford, but for some reason the name was changed, at an date unknown to me, to Shallow Crossing.
Wentworth’s (of Blue Mountains crossing fame) enthusiasm is tangible as he discusses the ramifications of Johnstone’s new discovery. Unfortunately at this stage there were still many white spaces on the maps and the Clyde River did not drain Lake George and the Shoalhaven was barely navigable to Burrier (over the years regular dredging had to be undertaken to allow droghers or river boats to get this far up.) In hindsight it may be possible to dismiss Wentworth’s speculations as mere fantasy but, the possibility of cheap water borne transportation from the newly discovered Southern Country was an idea that had yet to be disproved.
The ‘branch of the Blue Mountains running at nearly right angles with the main range, and terminating at the coast’ is the Yalwal Ramp which divides the Clyde watershed from Ettrema and the Shoalhaven. The Wool Road was constructed along this range at a later date.
Johnstone was to return to the area the following year, 1822, to play an ancillary role in Berry & Hume’s Clyde Explorations.
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