Hume and Hovell Travels

Hume and Hovell: Exploration, Encounter, and Legacy in Southeastern Australia

The expedition of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824–1825 was one of the earliest European journeys of exploration into the lands that would later become Victoria. Sponsored by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane of New South Wales, the expedition aimed to locate new grazing lands and a route to Bass Strait.

The journey crossed multiple Indigenous Countries, including those of the Ngunawal, Wiradjuri, Taungurung, and Wadawurrung peoples. Its legacy intertwines discovery, encounter, and dispossession—illustrating how colonial exploration simultaneously mapped opportunity and disrupted long-established cultural landscapes.

Timeline: The Hume and Hovell Expedition (1824–1850s)

• 1824 (October): Expedition departs from Hume’s property near Lake George, crossing Ngunawal and Wiradjuri Country.

• November 1824: Party crosses the Murrumbidgee River, navigating uncharted terrain using makeshift rafts.

• Late November: Traverse the Australian Alps into Taungurung and Woiwurrung Country.

• December 1824: Arrive at Corio Bay (near Geelong) on Wadawurrung Country—mistakenly believing it to be Western Port (Broome 2005).

• January 1825: Return north by a more direct inland route amid hardship and tension.

• 1830s: Reports from the journey guide future expeditions and settlement of the Port Phillip District.

• 1840s–1850s: Squatters occupy lands identified by the expedition; conflicts and population decline follow among Indigenous communities (Clark 1995).

Context and Leadership

In the early 1820s, Sydney’s pastoral economy was expanding rapidly. Settlers pressed for new grazing lands beyond the Cumberland Plain. Governor Brisbane authorised an expedition southward, assigning leadership to Hamilton Hume, a native-born settler with frontier experience, and William Hovell, a former Royal Navy captain and colonist (Boyce 2011).

Hume’s bushcraft and inland knowledge, combined with Hovell’s navigation skills, reflected how early exploration depended on both settler adaptability and imperial authority (Shaw 1966).

The 1824–25 Expedition

The party of six men, with bullocks and carts, left in October 1824. Key moments of the journey included:

• Crossing the Murrumbidgee River using rafts made from cart frames.

• Traversing the alpine ranges through snow and rugged country.

• Crossing the Goulburn River into Taungurung Country and descending toward the Barwon basin.

• Reaching Corio Bay, near present-day Geelong, on Wadawurrung Country, where they believed they had reached Western Port.

The return journey was equally arduous, marked by exhaustion and disputes between the leaders over navigation and decision-making.

Encounters with Indigenous Peoples

Hume and Hovell’s journals record several interactions with Indigenous communities along their route. These encounters ranged from wary observation to exchanges of gifts and food.

Hume, who had some knowledge of Indigenous languages, was occasionally able to communicate and mediate contact, though all surviving accounts are filtered through colonial interpretation (Cahir 2012).

For Indigenous peoples, these meetings signalled the first wave of newcomers who would soon claim their lands. Oral histories describe curiosity and watchfulness, as well as unease about strangers entering Country. Within a decade, squatters followed in the expedition’s path, bringing widespread conflict, disease, and displacement (Clark 1995).

Significance for Colonisation

The expedition confirmed what colonial authorities hoped to find: fertile grazing land and a navigable overland route to Bass Strait.

Although the explorers misidentified Corio Bay as Western Port, their descriptions inspired subsequent expeditions, including Major Thomas Mitchell’s 1836 journey, and directly influenced the establishment of Melbourne and Geelong.

Their findings were seized upon by the Crown and colonial administrators to justify further expansion. Squatters quickly followed, establishing pastoral runs along the Goulburn, Ovens, and Murray rivers—often without sanction. This marked the beginning of systematic dispossession across southeastern Australia (Shaw 1966).

Later Careers and Disputes

In later years, Hume and Hovell fell into bitter disagreement over credit for the expedition. Hovell emphasised his navigational role, while Hume asserted his practical leadership and local knowledge. Their feud spilled into the colonial press and public debate, reflecting the contested nature of exploration memory (Serle 1971).

Both men were later celebrated in settler heritage. Roads, walking tracks, and monuments—from the Hume Highway to the Hovell Walking Track—enshrined their names, while omitting the Indigenous histories entwined with their route.

Indigenous Impacts and Legacies

The most lasting impact of the expedition lay in its facilitation of colonisation. By charting a viable overland route, Hume and Hovell effectively opened Taungurung, Wadawurrung, and other Kulin Nation lands to pastoral occupation.

By the 1840s, frontier violence had spread across these regions, resulting in massacres, forced removals, and the creation of missions and protectorates (Clark 1995; Broome 2005). Populations plummeted due to disease and dispossession.

From an Indigenous perspective, the expedition was an early act of intrusion—an episode that foreshadowed profound upheaval. Truth-telling today reframes the story not merely as a triumph of endurance, but as a turning point in the loss of land and sovereignty.

Legacy and Memory

While settler narratives long portrayed Hume and Hovell as heroic pioneers, contemporary interpretation recognises the dual legacy of exploration: mapping and disruption, achievement and dispossession.

For historians and Indigenous communities alike, revisiting their journey reveals how colonial exploration served imperial aims, shaping landscapes, economies, and cultural identities still felt today.

Conclusion

The 1824–25 expedition of Hume and Hovell was a defining moment in the colonisation of southeastern Australia. Directed by British authorities but carried out by local settlers, it combined personal ambition with imperial purpose. The route they traced became a path of settlement and displacement, linking exploration with the transformation—and tragedy—of Country.

Understanding this expedition through both colonial and Indigenous perspectives allows for a fuller history: one that acknowledges endurance and ambition, yet honours the deep cultural loss it heralded.

References

Boyce, J 2011, 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia, Black Inc., Melbourne.
Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Cahir, F 2012, Black Gold: Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850–1870, ANU E Press, Canberra.
Clark, I D 1995, Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803–1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Serle, G 1971, The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria, 1851–1861, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
Shaw, A 1966, A History of the Port Phillip District: Victoria Before Separation, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.

Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter (16 September 2025)

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