Land exploration in Tasmania, 1824- 1842: With special reference to the Van Diemen's Land Company

This thesis does not purport to be a comprehensive, definitive account of all Tasmanian exploration undertaken during the years from 1824 to 1842. Much of the exploration that was carried out during this (and other) periods was obviously not undertaken in that name, but was merely the incidental result of activities with another purpose: hunters roaming away from the settlement; settlers seeking for new lands; stockmen searching for lost cattle or sheep; or escaped convicts seeking freedom in the uninhabited and unknown wilds of the Colony. Of moat of these journeys no official or non-official record now remains, or probably ever existed; for, even if they had been disposed to write down their experiences, undoubtedly a great many of these bush travellers were illiterate. In other cases, where some record does survive, the people concerned were only semi-literate, and ill equipped to make a geographically intelligible report of their journeys. For this reason, the limited availability of records, this thesis deals mainly with exploration tmdertaken in an official or semi-official capacity by Government or privately sponsored surveyors; or by settlers possessing the requisite knowledge to give accurate reports of the country they traversed