The name of Bredalbane Plains will forever resound in my bosom: Dr John Lhotsky 1834
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King Ludwig 1st of Bavaria who provided the funds which enabled Dr John
Lhotsky to explore the new world – including Breadalbane and Gunning,
in 1834. I have been unable to find any portraits of Dr Lhotsky. This
circa 1830 lithograph of Dr Lhotsky’s patron scanned by Franz
Hanfstaegl: From Wikimedia Commons
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He Could’ve Been a Contender
This article is part of a series on the Oolong Oologists; Oolong being a locality in the Gunning district and oology a branch of ornithology studying mainly eggs and nests – particularly popular in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.Polish polymath, naturalist and vigorous self-promoter Dr John Lhotsky passed through the Gunning district in 1834, recording details of the people, landscape and wildlife that he encountered. Before learning more about him I thought he would have been a strong contender for the title of First Oolong Oologist. As will become clear, he is not really in the running. But don’t stop reading now – the advice and observations to be found in his lively writings have much to interest us today. He goes into raptures about the incomparable scenery of Breadalbane and records his encounters with Aboriginal people near Gunning. Plough on to see, among other things, Dr Lhotsky’s recommendations on:
• Top Tip for Healthy Living - Aerial Bathing
• Breadalbane - Five Star Tourist Spot You Must Put on Your Bucket List
• A Sure Cure for the Trots
• The Weary Traveller’s Pick Me Up
Born in Galicia, but regarded by himself and his contemporaries as Polish, John Lhotsky (circa 1795-1866) was a naturalist, lecturer, artist and author whose writings encompassed zoology, botany, geology, geography and politics. Ludwig 1 of Bavaria stumped up the funds which enabled him to explore and describe the wonders of the new world. He started in Brazil before moving on to Australia, arriving in Sydney in May 1832 and remaining active in New South Wales and Tasmania until 1838.
While in Australia, Lhotsky published articles mainly on natural history for newspapers and scientific journals. He also produced landscape, zoological and botanical illustrations. His 1834 publication "A Journey from Sydney to the Australian Alps", which covers his expedition from Sydney to the Snowy Mountains district, includes descriptions of the Breadalbane and Gunning areas at that time.
The Journey Begins
Lhotsky departed Sydney on 10 January 1834 with a party of four men plus a horse and cart, exulting in leaving behind “all Bills of Exchange, Courts, Summonses, Attorneys, Editors of Newspapers, Gaols and such like”.You might think the Sydney of that time would be free of modern air pollution. While photo chemical smog was yet to come, the Sydney of 1834 was not without problems. Lhotsky tells us that his health had been much impaired since his arrival in New South Wales due mainly to the “predominance of Southerly Gales, charged with incredible quantities of dust from Sydney’s unpaved and unwatered streets which injured the lungs of inhabitants more than might be believed.”
Top Tip for Healthy Living - Aerial Bathing
On the first afternoon of his expedition, Lhotsky resolved to try a remedy for his dust filled lungs which, he assured readers, “under the necessary precautions and restrictions may be adopted by persons similarly circumstanced”. He “bared the upper part of my body and, in that state, walked for half an hour in the currents of air among the trees. The effect was excessively beneficial and I felt the muscles of my thorax so much invigorated that I repeated the experiment during my journey with the most beneficial result.”Lhotsky’s hint for healthy living may well have a good scientific basis. Some TB sufferers who moved from damp, smoggy cities to sunnier, fresher climates did indeed recover. There is evidence that MS is less prevalent in places where people have greater exposure to sunshine. Those with osteoporosis are recommended to ensure their vitamin D intake, which is best obtained from sunlight rather than pills, is adequate. Dr Lhotsky may have been on the right track.
Also, as he was quite possibly clad in woollen underwear, shirt and coat on a January afternoon on the outskirts of Sydney, it is likely that he would have found removing his upper garments to bring about a great improvement in the way he felt.
Though unhappy and dissatisfied now – I have once seen Bredalbane Plains!
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| Breadalbane Plains today. Lhotsky may well have looked out from this site (just off the Old South Road) on to what he records as the “Bredalbane” Plains. Note the water in the right middle ground. Lhotsky waxed lyrical about the chains of ponds he encountered here and at other points on his journey. |
The explorers forged on, entering the Bredalbane Plains, “a vast expanse of smooth level land, altogether destitute of shrubs and trees of any kind”, near sunset on 24 January. Lhotsky was enraptured by the beauty of the plains. He tells us “After the long drought and parching heat of summer, these Plains strikingly resembled an immense green and yellow carpet”. They passed silently through the strange and imposing scenery as the sun was setting.
“The surrounding forests” he says “exhibited then a singularly beautiful appearance, the long rows of white barked Eucalyptus presenting a pale bluish colour, the masses of foliage beyond looking dark in the approaching umbrage of the evening, while the higher parts were still gilded fairy-like by the rays of the departing sun”.
His descriptions would make very compelling copy in a promotional brochure today and I commend them to the tourist promotion authorities. His testimonial below would go well as a posthumous post on Trip Adviser.
“Even my men were impressed with the magic beauty of this scene, and as to myself the name of Bredalbane Plains will forever resound in my bosom. It is one of those objects which can never be erased from memory, and when surrounded by conflicting passions or untoward accidents, a feeling will arise in our hearts, which seems to say: - “though unhappy and dissatisfied now – I have once seen Bredalbane Plains!!
Once seen became a part of sight”
Welcome to Pajong Country - Observations on the Aboriginal People of Fish River, Gunning
On 25 January Dr Lhotsky’s party reached the Fish River, a succession of ponds rather than a flowing stream, just north of the “Goneng” or “Gonning” Valley. He found he was to share his campsite with a party of some 60 local Aboriginal people. Some of the men were out hunting, women were engaged in making possum skin cloaks and “nets of corrigiong” while young men were playing a catching game with a ball made of wool. They impressed Dr Lhotsky as being smart and muscular people. |
| What was the “corrigiong” being used for net making? I have found well over a dozen plants used for string and net manufacture by the Ngunnawal people including Poa, Themeda, Black Wattle, Dianella and Cumbungi. But my money is on Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus which Lhotsky may well have transcribed as “corrigiong”) as by far the most likely. Image Wikimedia Commons |
The principals introduced themselves to one another, Lhotsky preferring to name himself as “Doctor”. The elderly chief of the group was introduced as Mr Tommy, two of the others being Kegg and Wullumwudilla. With the help of his guide and interpreter, a man named Walker, Lhotsky learned these people were members of the Pajong tribe which “extended their peregrinations…as far as Goulburn, and Yass Plains, but not so far as Limestone.”
Lhotsky was the first white to record the fact that the Pajong people occupied what is now the Gunning district. Roadside signage and interpretative signs at places like Barbour Park, together with popular belief, tells us this district lies within the traditional land of the Ngunawal people. Is there an inconsistency here? That is a big question well beyond my very limited understanding and one that would require a PhD thesis length explanation so we will leave that issue to another day.
Suffice it to say, that the subject is a complex and contested one. Whatever the case may have been, the area we now live in was a boundary or intersecting zone through which numbers of people travelled – sometimes with the consent of others and sometimes not.
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| Image: Beethoven in 1818 by August Klöber Wikipedia |
That evening Dr Lhotsky lay in his camp “pleasantly extended” on his cloak listening to the strains of a Corrobery” held by the Pajong people he had just met. He says “Their strain was in ¾ time, which they marked by beating crotchets, and in moments of greater exertion, quavers.” He described the music he heard here and later in the Monaro as being “which for a majestic and deep melancholy, would not dishonour a Beethoven or a Handel”
There is a lot more to Lhotsky’s encounters with Aboriginal people and his disapproval of the way in which they were treated by the Government but it is a big subject which is best covered separately.
The Oppressed Squatters of Gunning
Early the next morning Lhotsky’s party proceeded to Mr Kennedy’s farm in the “Goneng Valley”. This valley was intersected by a chain of ponds which tended towards the Lachlan and abounded with fish, including fresh water cod weighing up to 90 lbs [or 30 kgs]. John Kennedy’s granite country farm was, I think, situated near where the Gunning Golf Course and back of the showgrounds are today.
Mt Dixon is to the far left, some of Mr Kennedy’s extensive properties were to the right. Gunning village is to the far right and out of view.
she and her husband were Squatters, the name given in the Colony to persons who cultivate unoccupied Ground, belonging therefore, as they say, to Government. The fear of the poor woman affected me deeply, and a feeling of profound indignation seized me, seeing that in British Australia, on a surface nearly as great as Europe, a poor British family must be afraid to cultivate with the sweat of its brow, a few inches of land, belonging to the nation.Who was this nervous and perhaps reluctant Good Samaritan? There were squatters in the district, some of whom went on to gain title to their land while others are lost to memory forever. We will never know who the “poor woman” was. But Henry Dunkley’s farm, to which he gained title in 1837 (after Lhotsky’s visit), was but a short distance from Gunning on the commonly used track to Gundaroo. Might this be the place he stopped at?
The cream and other refreshments she gave me, burned as it were my bowels, and I was ashamed that she considered me connected with a Government, which had enacted regulations of this kind.
Henry’s wife was Lucretia Dunkley – later to find notoriety when she was hanged in Berrima Gaol in 1843 together with her lover Martin Beech for the axe murder of her husband. Keith Brown, author of the definitive history of the Dunkleys, says that the pair married in January 1834 and were recorded as living at Goulburn Plains at that time. However, he feels it is speculative but not impossible the newlyweds were “residing” on the property prior to it having been granted. This was far from unusual. If the Dunkleys were squatting on the site of their dreams just outside Gunning at that time, Dr Lhotsky may well have had an unknowing Brush with Infamy. That said, there were almost certainly other squatters around the area in 1834.
A Sure Cure for the Trots
At noon that day the party stopped to rest, the thermometer registering 1040F. They were very much annoyed by the attentions of ants – about which they could do little. As well, they were suffering from diarrhoea - for which Dr Lhotsky had a cure. Read on to profit from his prescription.I was able to cure this illness by the most simple means, viz. tying of the abdomen with some cloth, a rather rigorous diet, some unsugared strong coffee, and by the application of a remedy, which it is rather hazardous in this colony to mention, so much the public is indifferent about it; I mean “Animal Magnetism” [hypnotic suggestion pioneered by Dr Franz Mesmer in 1778, a procedure combining hypnosis, group therapy and magnets].
The Weary Traveller’s Pick Me Up
Lhotsky and his team suffered from the January heat of the Southern Tablelands. When in distress from the blazing sun, the doctor had a sovereign remedy – a mix of sulphuric acid, sugar and water served for lemonade. He recorded 1290F at 3pm on January 30 when.My dogs were mere skeletons, and came every moment to me with their tongues hanging out, imploring relief from the dreadful crisis. In such hours sulphuric acid, with much water and well sweetened, was the only thing which in any degree kept down the boiling quality of the blood.Keen to try this yourself? It is not a GDHS endorsed treatment and, unfortunately, Dr Lhotsky does not offer any suggestions about the proportions of acid, sugar and water he found to give the best effect.
Lhotsky the Oologist
While I am not quite sure about his line of march from Gunning to the Limestone Plains, I don’t think he passed through the locality of Oolong to the south of today’s village. Even if he did, his visit was a fleeting one. This, I think, disqualifies him from the title of First Oolong Oologist so that remains, at least for now, with Sir Charles Belcher. [https://gunninghistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-first-oolong-oologist.html]Lhotsky certainly had an interest in bird life and exhibited all the traits of a 19th century oologist. One of his party was given the role of bird catcher and despatcher, preparer of skins and the like. Also, like many early oologists in Australia, he can be dismissive of the charms of native birds compared to those of England and Europe. He is silent on the birdlife of the Gunning district but ,as he passed through “Gonderoo” to the Limestone Plains, he records:
I heard at day-break the singing of a little bird, the tones and strains of which were very delicate and tender. This is rather rare in Australia, the feathered tribe here not being very melodious. However, during this season [summer] in exposed places scores of Magpies [Picus-] are to be seen, which greet the rising sun with their clamorous, gay and flute like tone; flying, playing, and hopping upon the trees near the traveller, in fact so tame are they, that I felt considerable reluctance to shoot any of them.
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| Picture Wikipedia Commons |
:I found even upon the fences of the farm some subjects for observation. A number of hawks were so unshy, that they remained for hours there and on the adjacent trees. They are about the size of a fowl in the body, of a brownish plumage, the female variegated upon the breast and neck in a very handsome manner, the male more of uniform brownish red and, in the opinion of Mr Coxen who has much experience in Australian Ornithology, are a new species. I called it “Falco Napoleo”, on account of its resemblance to the emblematic arms of that celebrated man" ( Napoleon's Coat of Arms, modeled on the Standards which were the pride of Roman legionaries, is pictured left).
We cannot say with certainty what species of raptor Lhotsky saw in 1834. Even if it was new to European ornithology, his romantic title of Falco Napoleo did not make it into the taxanomic record.
So, what was it?
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| Photo by Trevor Small: Best Bird Photos Australia |
Like to Know More?
This account covers just a little of Dr Lhotsky’s journey through our district. I can recommend his account of his travels A Journey from Sydney to the AUSTRALIAN ALPS 1834 as a very interesting and entertaining read. It can be purchased for widely differing amounts from book dealers, E Bay and the like. Some libraries will have it in their restricted section and you can read it [with difficulty] on Google Books.In trying to learn more about the Aboriginal people of our district, I read and was impressed by Pajong and Wallabalooa: a history from the records of Aboriginal farming families at Blakney and Pudman Creeks, 1820-1945 and historical overview 1945-2002 by Ann Jackson-Nakano. There are other more recent studies which do not fully agree with Ms Jackson-Nakano.
Ngunnawal Plant Use published by the ACT Government is a great reference if you want to know more about the many and sometimes surprising uses of local native plants.
Keith Brown’s The Day That Dunkley Died”, an excellent account of the 1842 Gunning axe murder, is available from GDHS with further details on this blogspot.
A list of the birds found in the Upper Lachlan Shire compiled by Dr Tony Saunders is at https://www.upperlachlan.nsw.gov.au/community/shire/birds-found-upper-lachlan-shire;
The First Oolong Oologist, can be found at https://gunninghistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-first-oolong-oologist.html
Thank you
Thank you to:• Dr Tony Saunders and Ms Nikki Taws for their help in trying to identify Dr Lhotsky’s Falco napoleo.
• Mr Denver Baines for saving me from my own silliness when trying to plot the doctor’s path from Gunning towards Gundaroo and identify where he stopped to repair his cart.
• Mr Keith Brown for advice on the likelihood, or otherwise, of Lucretia Dunkley being near Gunning in early 1834.
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