A Polish Explorer

Count Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki (1797-1877)

by John REYNOLDS.

THE story of land exploration in Tasmania is yet to be written. The conquest of our mountains and and scrub was largely made by men whose very names are today unknown or forgotten. Like all adventurers, they were a very strange mixture of personalities.

Their numbers include British army officers and scallywag exconvicts, heavily-laden prospectors, and grave men of science, farmers seeking richer soils, and bushmen endeavouring to locate virgin pine forests.
Amongst the few who left any written record of their discoveries behind them was the scion of a noble Polish family, Count Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki. This notable Nineteenth Century scientific explorer and philanthropist visited many of the hitherto unknown and His little-known parts of Tasmania.
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His activities were not limited to exploration. Like Humboldt, he systematically recorded all the natural phenomena which came under his observation.

Strzelecki was born in 1797, shortly after Poland had ceased, to exist as an independent nation. His boyhood and youth were passed during the Napoleonic Wars. Possibly he saw something of the sanguinary battles which decided the fates of nations and the public liberties of Europe.
After completing a prolonged course of studies in Natural Philosophy at the famous University of Heidelberg he left his opressed country for ever.

Instead of joining one of the numerous bands of Polish exiles, who roamed all over Europe as free-lance revolutionaries, he sought an occupation which was far more suitable for a man with his intellectual endowments. For two years he carefully studied sheep-farming as it was then practised in Scotland. His experience in that industry made his later observations in Australia of much practical value.

After becoming acquainted with much of the lore of the Scottish shepherds, he set out on a voyage round the world. Crossing the Atlantic to Canada was the first stage of a journey which was to last almost ten years. Once he set foot on the shores of the New World the thirst for exploration was upon him. Spending but little time in the precincts of civilisation, he was soon following in the tracks of another famous explorer (Sir John Franklin), whose acquaintance he was to make in Hobart.
Whilst among the Upper Lakes he discovered the presence of rich deposits of native copper, but the desire for wealth did not overcome the thirst for knowledge in the case of this man.
From the far north of Canada he travelled south through the United States and Mexico to the wildest parts of Central America. For two years he seems to have almost followed the path of that great traveller, Humboldt. On his way south he climbed many of the highest peaks of the Cordilleras.

Next we read of a voyage he made in company with Captain Eliott, R.N., on board the H.M.S. Fly. Like the „Beagle”, this man-of-war seemed to have a roving commission in the Pacific. In consequence the explorer was given the rare opportunity of visiting most of the islands before the advent of white man.
At Tahiti the two friends were the guests of the famous Queen Pomare. There is a story told that the Pole induced the Polynesian monarch to establish Trial by Jury in her island dominions. Whether this is a sailor's yarn or not, the fact remains that he took a sympathetic interest in all savage peoples with whom he came into contact.

Strzelecki visited New Zealand a year before it was formally annexed to the British Crown. After visiting both of the islands he proceeded to Sydney, arriving there in 1889. His fame as a traveller had preceded him, and he was lionised by Sydney society of the Gipps regime. 4

But Strzelecki had not come to Australia merely to enjoy the pleasant amenities of Sydney's social life. He was soon out in the bush learning geological formation of the Blue Mountains. Governor Gipps became interested in his investigations, and specially requested him to examine several localities. 5

In the course of these investigations he definitely detected the presence of gold in the strata of the Bathurst district. Upon the representations of the Governor, who feared the effect of the find upon the convict population, the matter was kept a close secret.
Thus the first of the „rushes” was delayed for several years. The geological examination of the settled portion of the coastal districts of the mother colony soon developed Into an under-taking of greater importance.

Prior to 1840 little was known of the extreme south-eastern portion of the continent. Into this rugged land Strzelecki made his way. Crossing the Australian Alps by slow stages, he climbed their highest peak, probably as the first white man to do so.
To this eminence he gave the Kosciusko in memory of the greatest Polish patriot of modern times. 8

From the snowy heights he gradually fought his way through the dense scrub and forests of cedar gums into that fertile province which he named Gippsland in honour of his vice-regal patron. 9

Strzelecki next turned his attention to Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land, as it was then known. He was extremely fortunate in finding a kindred soul, Sir John Franklin, occupying the position of Governor. Characteristically enough, Strzelecki was soon battling his way through the peculiarly impene trable Tasmanian scrub.

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