825662
- TitleStapylton’s journal of Mitchell’s expedition / G. Stapylton
- Creator
- Call numberSAFE/A 332 (Safe 1/352)
- Level of descriptionfonds
- Date
25 March-7 November 1836 - Type of material
- Reference code825662
- Issue CopyMicrofilm : CY 767
- Physical Description0.05 metres of textual material (1 volume) - manuscript - 23 x 36 cm
- ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Surveyor and explorer, was the youngest son of Major-General Granville Anson Chetwynd Stapylton and his wife Martha. His paternal grandfather was the fourth Viscount Chetwynd. In November 1828 was appointed an assistant surveyor in New South Wales and carried out a number of surveys near Sydney. In 1831 he was with a party which traced the Abercrombie River from Bathurst towards the Lake George area. In 1833 his work found favour with the surveyor-general, T. L. Mitchell.
In 1834 he was praised by the Colonial Office and recommended to Governor Bourke for promotion. In 1836 Stapylton was appointed second-in-command of Mitchell's overland expedition to Australia Felix. In this he did a valuable job, but was very critical of his leader and irked by having to take frequent charge of the base camp and thus prevented from sharing the excitement of making new discoveries. Later Stapylton was sent to Port Phillip to work under the direction of Robert Hoddle; he travelled to Melbourne overland, arriving in April 1838. About this time he appears to have fallen a victim of intemperance and was suspended from duty by Lonsdale but later reinstated by Governor Gipps and sent to work under Robert Dixon at Moreton Bay. He was engaged in surveying the coast south from Brisbane on 31 May 1840 when Aboriginals attacked his camp. Stapylton and an assistant, William Tuck, were killed, and another member of the party, James Dunlop was severely injured. Tuck's body was buried on the spot but Stapylton's was taken to Brisbane Three Aborigines, Merridio, Nengavil and Numalleo were brought to justice and convicted before the Supreme Court of New South Wales
- Scope and ContentMar-Nov 1836: Journal of the 1836 expedition into the land Mitchell called the `Australia Felix’, which followed the Lachlan River to its juncture with the Murrumbidgee River, then to its convergence with the Murray River and Western District of Victoria. Stapylton joined Mitchell on the 7th April 1836, until the day he was forced to return to Kedowa the station on the Lachlan from where he initially tried to overtake the Surveyor General. This diary records the day-to-day activities of the expedition including, landscape, weather conditions, taking of measurements, latitude and calculations, daily activities, the search for water, hunting and fishing for food, places of encampment, contact with Aborigines and his opinions of Mitchell.
Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/ (accessed March 26, 2008) - Copying ConditionsOut of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales - General note
“It is a peculiar journal, and none of it in Staplyton’s handwriting. Yet it is certainly Stapylton’s own – a record of his words, thoughts, and actions throughout the long expedition. Even the greater part of the revisions and marginal notes appear to be Stapylton’s though copies in various hands, as is the main text. The identity of the main copyist has been uncovered in the course of this research though the full province of the copy remains uncertain, and the fate of the original unknown.
A copy though it is, there is no doubt that this is indeed `Stapylton’s Journal’ – pp.5
“Stapylton, nonetheless, did leave his journal – and the acquisitive Dixon had retained it. This was made clear in due course when Halloran was induced to make out an affidavit, signed on 15 March 1842. A summons was served upon Dixon to produce the journal, but there the trail stops. What can be supposed is that Dixon and some friends copied Stapylton’s journal before Dixon handed it over – if he ever did hand it over. One thing is certain, that the greater part of the manuscript of `Stapylton’s journal’ as we now have it is in the handwriting of Robert Dixon – pp.38-39
Reference:
Stapylton: with Major Mitchell’s Australia Felix expedition, 1836 / Ed. Alan E.J. Andrews. Hobart : Blubber Head Press, 1986
This volume was originally bound with the spine title `Stapylton’s Journal of Mitchell’s Expedition, 1836-37. It was probably bound while still in the possession of D.S. Mitchell or already bound when acquired.
Stapylton: with Major Mitchell’s Australia Felix expedition, 1836 / Ed. Alan E.J. Andrews. Hobart : Blubber Head Press, 1986 - - Signatures / Inscriptions
Signed D.S. Mitchell on frontispiece - Creator/Author/Artist
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