AUSTRALIA'S FIRST GOLD DIGGER WAS
A POLISH EXPLORER
(By "BARTLE FRERE")
The locality where Explorers,
Robert O'Hara Burke, and William
John Wills perished on their return
journey from the Gulf of Carpentaria
in 1862 is close to Innaminka. This
centre is near the junction of Cooper's
Creek, with Strzelecki Creek, on the
western side of the Queensland bor-
der in that territory.
Strzelecki Creek was named in
honour of Count Edmund Paul Strze-
lecki (K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.),
Polish explorer, scientist and philan-
thropist, the first gold digger in Aus-
tralia and the discoverer of Mount
Kosciusko. As Strzelecki Creek is
known to North Queensland cattle
men droving stock to the Adelaide
market some details of this remark-
able explorer may be of interest to
them, as well as to the mining
community.
Sir Edmund Paul de Strzelecki was
born in Poland, became a British sub-
ject by naturalisation as well as a
Knight Commander of the Bath and
a Knight Commander of St. Michael
and St. George. He spent only five
years in Australia from 1839 to 1843,
but during that period he was success-
ful in discovering gold in the Bathurst
district (N.S.W.) and County of Wel-
lington (N.S.W.), as well as coal in
Tasmania, and in exploring and naming
our highest mountain (Kosciusko).
Strzelecki travelled on foot over 7000
miles of New South Wales, Victoria
and Tasmania and made the first ex-
tensive geological and mineralogical
survey of the regions he crossed.
Governor Gipps was in office in
New South Wales when Strzelecki
made the first discovery of gold and at
this Governor's personal request the
explorer withheld from the public the
news of his successful prospecting.
His Excellency the Governor expressed
the fear of what might happen if 45,000
convicts suddenly discovered there
was gold to be picked up in the
Bathurst district and other localities
lying on the western side of the Blue
Mountains. Thus Strzelecki forfeited
his claim to a fortune in order to
please Governor Gipps and the first
gold rush was postponed for a further
ten years. Recent geographical publi-
cations also disclose that this explorer
found genuine traces of gold near the
future townships of Hartley and Wel-
lington (N.S.W.), during his excur-
sions along the Great Dividing Range.
Edmund Paul de Strzelecki was
born in the year 1796 in the Polish
province of Poznan, which had been
seized by Prussia three years previously
when, in spite or the heroism of the
great Polish patriot, Kosciusko, Poland
fell under the blows of the German
and Russian armies.
The boy (who was destined to be one
of Australia's great explorers) grew
up surrounded with many patriotic
anecdotes. He was then imbued with
a vision of the past glory and liberty
of his native country and with the
name of Kosciusko in his heart. It
must also be mentioned that Strzelecki
was descended from a very old family
of Polish knights, who traced their
origin back to the 13th century.
Amongst this ancient family were for-
mer soldiers, diplomats, prelates, and
farmers. In the 14th century a Strze-
lecki's name appeared in Poland's
"Magna Carta," in the 15th century
there was an Archbishop Strzelecki of
Lwow, in 1730 Peter Strzelecki settled
in Great Poland near Poznan and
married a local Polish bride. Their
son married a sister of Archbishop
Raczinski (Primate of Poland) and
from this marriage was born Edmund
Paul de Strzelecki, who was knighted
by Her Majesty Queen Victoria with
the Order of St. Michael and St.
George for his Australian exploration
and discoveries. Despite their illus-
trious connections the family, at the
time of Edmund's birth, were not in
a very affluent position.
The youth soon became a traveller.
At the age of 14 years his father sent
him to school in Warsaw and lodged
him at the home of a friend. When
Edmund had attained the age of 16
years he returned home and in the
absence of his parents packed his bags
and then disappeared for five years.
He enlisted as a soldier and was on
active service in the Napoleonic wars
for this period of absence from the
parental home. In the year 1818 his
brother Peter located him in the city
of Cracow and persuaded the prodigal
son to return to his family.
Strzelecki, at this period, had grown
into a handsome young man of 21
years and in his home town he soon
became a social success. During this
period he fell in love with Adyna
Turno, a young lady who loved him
in return. She was some years
younger than Edmund, and her father
did not approve of the lovers arrang-
ing to meet each other. They accord-
ingly met in secret and planned an
elopement. It was arranged that
Adyna would slip out of the home
while her father slept before the fire
previous to his having supper. This
plot miscarried, however, as the in-
tended father-in-law discovered Ed-
mund's plans and the chase was on.
Adyna was caught and her lover
found himself in such a torrid atmos-
phere that he left his home in Poland
never to return. Adyna did not for-
get her gallant lover. She continued
his sweetheart and remained un-
married up to her death. During the
next 40 years they corresponded, al-
though separated by many thousands
of miles of partially explored territory.
Strzelecki first set out for Heidel-
berg, (Germany). He making use of
money which his brother and sisters
had given to him, he became a student
at the university, studying regularly
for the first time such subjects as bot-
any, zoology, mineralogy and geology.
In the year 1830 he arrived in Scotland
and explored the highlands north of
the Caledonian Canal. During this
period he made very careful observa-
tions of the methods of Scottish sheep
farmers and these observations he
passed on to Australian pastoralists,
when discussing such matters during
his later sojourn in our pastoral areas.
He was a very apt student of the Eng-
lish language and, by his charm of
manner, he made many friends in
Edinburgh and London. After spending
four happy years rambling through
the British Isles he decided to visit
the United States of America. It is
not recorded in history how Strzelecki
acquired the funds for these travels.
Perhaps in the period (112 years ago),
it was comparatively inexpensive to
hitch-hike one's way through the
European countries and across the
States of North and South America
provided that one possessed the charm
of manner, the aristocratic elegance and
the conversational brilliance with which
our young explorer was credited.
However, in the year 1834 he took
his passage by ship from Newcastle,
(England), to New York. (U.S.A.) He
explored the eastern states of America
and visited their capitals, Boston, New
York, and Charleston, as well as
Niagara and the Great Lakes. He
also visited Montreal and Quebec,
Canada. From that dominion he
travelled to the southern states of
America and to Mexico and California
and thence to South America—Chile,
Argentina and Peru. In the year 1837
he set out from Chile for the Pacific
Islands and arrived in Sydney,
(N.S.W.) two years later (1839.)
Strzelecki kept careful records of all
he saw and, wherever possible, gave
precision to his notes by borrowing
scientific instruments to assist him.
Before reaching Australia his chief
contribution to science was his care-
ful geological survey and his theory of
origin of the main volcano on the is-
land of Hawaii.
He also had other interests besides
physical science. While in the United
States he had at least one interview
with President Andrew Jackson, and
had much to say on such questions
as the South American slave traffic
and the treatment of the Indians by
the Spaniards. In the Argentine he
was the guest of the dictator, General
Rosas. During his stay in California
he went gold prospecting, and he
visited the silver mines of Sonora. It
can thus be safely asserted that a very
experienced traveller stepped ashore
at Sydney Cove on the 27th of April,
1839, in the person of Count Edmund
Paul de Strzelecki. At the time it
his arrival Sydney had a rather un-
savoury reputation for burglary and
lawlessness. In his diary he records
that he left his watch and purse on
board, and armed himself with a stout
stick. On his return to his ship he
added, with surprise, the following
diary entry: "I found, however, on
that night in the streets of Sydney a
decency and a quiet which I have
never witnessed in any other of the
ports of the United Kingdom, no
drunkenness, no appearance of prosti-
tution, no sailors' quarrels were to be
seen."
Strzelecki's visit to New South
Wales was principally concerned with
mineralogical investigations, but he
soon became more interested in the
geology of this territory. His field of
scientific research was situated about
150 miles inland from the coast of
New South Wales, and ran parallel
to the eastern coast of Australia from
Port Stephens (N.S.W.) through
Westernport (Victoria) and along this
line in a southerly direction through
Tasmania. The researches led him in
1839 to the first discovery of gold in
Australia as abovementioned. It was
not generally known that Strzelecki
was the first successful "digger" in
Australia until a Legislative Councillor
named MacArthur revealed the fact in
the Legislative Council of New South
Wales, in 1853—that was 14 years after
the event.
It may be mentioned that Strzelecki
always worked on foot—his party be-
ing made up of three men, with two
pack horses. It must be assumed
that when he discovered the gold he
must have been alone, as otherwise
his companions must certainly have
divulged the secret. In the year 1840
Strzelecki decided to climb the highest
peak in the Alps on the New South
Wales—Victorian border. He had
often viewed the Alps while working
further east. It was actually not the
summit of the range which Strze-
lecki scaled and measured, but a
neighbouring peak. On the top he
found a rocky mass which reminded
him in its shape of the tomb of his
hero, Kosciusko, in the Cathedral of
Cracow (Poland), so he called the
mountain Kosciusko. Strzelecki found
the altitude to be 6510 feet, but a
neighbouring peak was later found to
be 7323 feet, and Strzelecki's name of
Kosciusko was transferred to it.
On his return to Sydney, 106 years
ago, after ascending the Australian
Alps and naming its highest peak after
the Polish hero Kosciusko. Count
Strzelecki wrote to his sweetheart
Adyna Turno, enclosing a mountain
flower from the Australian Alps, and
included the following message: "Here
is a flower from Mount Kosciusko, the
highest peak in Australia, the first in
the new world bearing a Polish name.
I believe that you will be the first
Polish woman to have a flower from
that mountain. Let it remind you
ever of freedom, patriotism and love."
Shortly afterwards, and in the same
year (1840), Strzelecki entered Vic-
toria and named the region he passed
through Gippsland, in honour of his
friend Governor Gipps, of New
South Wales. He worked slowly
south, backwards and forwards across
his line in the region of the Snowy
River, and then made for the coast
at Westernport and thence to Mel-
bourne. After a few weeks' rest he
set out for Tasmania where Sir John
Franklin, the famous Arctic explorer,
was then the Governor holding office.
Franklin welcomed Strzelecki like a
brother, and placed every official as-
sistance at his disposal—ships, men,
instruments and equipment.
Strzelecki's observations were
adopted as the basis of Launceston's
water supply, and of the great irriga-
tion scheme now harnessing the
mighty waters of the island's lakes.
This explorer also discovered coal and
other minerals, as well as exploring
parts of the hitherto unknown east
and west coasts of Tasmania. In the
year 1842, still assisted by Franklin,
he explored the islands of Bass Strait,
Wilson's Promontory, Sealers' Cove
and Corner Inlet. In the following
year (1842) Strzelecki sailed for
England via Singapore, Japan, China,
Malaya and Egypt. Two years later
(1845) he published in London: "The
Physical Description of New South
Wales and Van Dieman's Land," a
500-page book, for a long time the
standard work on Australia. This work
had been dedicated to Sir John Frank-
lin, who at that time, having re-
linquished his post as Governor of
Tasmania, was about to embark on his
last fatal journey to the North Pole.
The splendid work of Strzelecki in
Australia consisted of a five years
tour on foot over 7000 miles of coun-
try, constantly recording his discov-
eries with paper and pencil. The
Royal Geographical Society honoured
this explorer with its gold medal, and
Strzelecki applied for and was granted
British naturalisation. At this time
(1847-8) the Irish people were suffer-
ing from famine, due to the failure of
the potato crop, and Strzelecki, always
a philantrophist, was active on the
Committee of Relief. He was the chief
administrator of the relief in Ireland.
For these important services, he was
made a Knight Companion of the
Order of the Bath.
In the year 1849 he returned to Lon-
don, and was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Geographical and Royal
Societies. Though London lionised
him, he found time to promote the
immigration to Australia of thou-
sands of Irish families. When the
Crimean War broke out he assisted in
providing comforts for the British and
Allied troops, and supported very ably
Florence Nightingale's appeals for
help in her hospital work, which were
published in the "Times" of London.
Strzelecki never married, but in the
year 1857, at the age of 60 years, he
travelled to Geneva, where, under ro-
mantic circumstances, he met again
(after a separation of 40 years) the
girl he had loved as a boy and to
whom he had sent an Australian wild
flower from Mount Kosciusko. After
a short summer together on Lake
Constance the lovers separated, the
old lady returning to her home it
Pozen (Poland), and the old gentle-
man to his home in Saville Row, Lon-
don. They never met again, but con-
tinued to write to each other till the
end.
With regard to the discovery of
gold in New South Wales by this ex-
plorer in 1839, it is recorded that
Strzelecki was satisfied to waive his
claim to the actual precious metal
which was his right, but history does
not narrate whether he was hand-
somely rewarded to do so. All we
know is that from being a man with
meagre assets he became wealthy
enough to run an expensive London
house for 30 odd years, and to accept
a knighthood from Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, and never to work
again for his living.
In the year 1860, when he had at-
tained the age of 64 years, he was
honoured with the degree, honorary
DCL of Oxford, and nine years later
the Order of St. Michael and St.
George was conferred on him for his
Australian discoveries. Strzelecki con-
tinued to live a full and active life till
well into his seventies—riding for
exercise, dining out, and busying him-
self with his philantrophic work. In
1873, at the age of 77, his health be
came weaker, and he was no longer
able to leave his home at Seville Row.
However, he continued to receive his
friends at home till a few weeks be-
fore his death, on October 6, 1873. He
was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery,
in a modest grave, which remained
unadorned till a marble plaque cover-
Fix this texting it was placed there in 1943
AUSTRALIA'S FIRST GOLD DIGGER WAS A POLISH EXPLORER - Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954) - 14 Jan 1947
The order, which the company handled some time ago, was strictly confidential until the US Central Intelligence Agency declassified information about it. The design of the pottery produced for the CIA is reserved and not available for purchase.
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