John Howe's 1819 Expedition
On 24 October 1819, John Howe, the Chief Constable for the District of Windsor left Windsor with the party of men who made up the expedition team. The party accompanying John Howe were:
- Free men- George Loder Jr (Howe's son -in-law) and John Milward.
- Convicts- John Eggleton, Charles Berry and Nicholas Connelly.
- Aboriginal guides- Myles and another man who left the party on the second day.
They had two horses to assist with carrying provisions and equipment. Each man had a gun and provisions for three weeks.
On 4 November, Howe was able to look down from the range of mountains to a heavy fog extending as far as the eye could see to the east and northeast, obviously covering a vast valley. The Aboriginal guides told him that it was Kamilaroi country, though he interpreted what they were saying as Coomery Roy, a name which stuck for some time. Next day, the party came down the mountain into a widening valley with good grass with a stream running which became known as Doyle's Creek. They were able to travel downstream, marvelling at how rich the country was and collecting pieces of coal to take home.
The early reports of "good" land were often expressed with surprise, relief and delight. When
John Howe first saw the Patrick's Plains area in the Hunter Valley in 1819, he wrote:
It is the finest sheep country I have ever seen since I left England... the grass on the low ground equals a meadow
in England and will grow as good a swathe...
Yet they did not know they were at the Hunter River. They turned back, tired, hungry and sick. As they neared home, they met an Aboriginal man who explained that they had taken a difficult route and that he could show them a better one. On reaching home, Howe sent Myles with some other Aboriginal men to find this better way on 9 December. They returned on 26 December, confirming that they had found a better and shorter route, probably following an Aboriginal pathway.
Let us go to the Journal of Howe's 1819 Expedition to see where they went and what difficulties they encountered in their 13 day trek to the Hunter River.
