The First Ascent of Mt Lindesay
A Climbing ‘Whodunit’
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600002336Keywords:
Mt Lindesay, ascent, tiered upper sectionAbstract
Mt Lindesay lies in the McPherson Range on the border between New South Wales and Queensland. Described by one early twentieth century writer as resembling ‘a crown pumpkin or a huge pudding mould’, its remarkable tiered upper section has long captured the imagination of those who care to gaze upon its vertical cliffs and dramatic lines.
References
Thomson, J.P., ‘Holiday Rambles on the Upper Logan’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) XXIII (1907–08): 24.
Steele, J.G., Aboriginal Pathways in Southeast Queensland and the Richmond River (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1984), 39. Steele also gives examples of other renditions of the name.
Steele: 84; Norledge, Aboriginal Legends from Eastern Australia (Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1968), 18.
Praed, R., My Australian Girlhood (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1902), 135–137. Rosa Praed was the eldest daughter of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior and his first wife Matilda Harpur. She was also the sister of Thomas de Montmorency Murray-Prior, the 1872 Mt Lindesay climber. In the 1860s and early 1870s she spent part of her life at the then family home, Maroon station, not far from Mt Lindesay.
Both Borchgrevink (‘The Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 26 July 1890: 154) and Mary Murray-Prior (‘An Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 1 Nov 1902: 974) refer to numerous earlier unsuccessful attempts to climb Mt Lindesay.
In addition to the newspaper material, other nineteenth century references to the two recorded ascents are: R.M. Collins, ‘Early Explorations of the Logan’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) XIII (1897–98): 4–5; Weedon, Queensland Past and Present (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1896), 4.
Eg: Collins: 4–5; Groom, A., One Mountain After Another (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949), 118; P. Stockton, ‘Twin Peaks’; Wild (Winter 1996): 43.
‘An Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 1 Nov 1902: 974.
‘Mt Lindesay’, Brisbane Courier, 13 Oct 1923: 19.
Jarrott, J.K., ‘Some Mt Lindesay History’, N.P.A. News (the National Parks Association of Queensland newsletter) Nov/Dec 1974: 6.
Cunningham, Fraser, and Logan's reports of the expedition to ‘Mt Lindesay’, along with Cunningham's miniature sketch of ‘Mt Hooker’ are reproduced in: J.G. Steele, Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770–1830 (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1972), 225–278.
Col. Lindesay, Patrick (later Sir), then commander of the 39th regiment, based at Port Jackson.
It is unclear when the mountain names were changed. Major George Barney, after whom Mt Barney is named, arrived in Australia in late 1835 and drew one of the early plans for Brisbane town in 1839. The earliest references we have found to Mt Lindesay and Mt Barney by their current names appear on sketch profiles made by Dixon from Flinders Peak, Mt Walker and the Normanby Plains base line in October 1839 (Robert Dixon's Moreton Bay Survey Field Notebooks - Oxley Library MS: OM 78.074).
The surprise and disbelief with which the rediscovery of the name changes was met give a fairly clear indication that the post 1842 arrivals had very little knowledge of Logan's ‘Mt Hooker’ and ‘Mt Lindesay’.
Russell, H.S., The Genesis of Queensland (Sydney: Turner & Henderson, 1888), 136–139. Notably, Russell presents Cunningham's report (as Cunningham had done) under the title ‘The Excursion to the Summit of Mount Lindesay’, without qualification or further comment, which suggests that he mistakenly believed Cunningham's report referred to the present Mt Lindesay.
The debate ran in both the Brisbane Courier and the Evening Observer, viz: ‘Ascent of Mount Lindesay’, 15 July 1890: 3; ‘The Ascent of Mount Lindesay’, 16 July 1890: 6; ‘Ascent of Mount Lindesay’, 19 July 1890: 6; 26 July 1890: 6; ‘Meston and the Mountains’, 31 July 1890: 4. At this time ‘mountain expert’ Archibald Meston was emphatic that Cunningham's 1828 report proved Logan had climbed Mt Lindesay.
Collins appears to have initially raised the idea that the mountain names had been changed in his 1890 letter to the Brisbane Courier/Observer (‘Ascent of Mount Lindesay’, Evening Observer, 19 July 1890: 6). For the later instances, see W. Clarke, ‘Exploration and Early Settlement of the Logan District’, Queenslander, 18 July 1914: 8; W.W. Craig, Moreton Bay Settlement (Brisbane: Watson Ferguson & Co., 1925), 47; and ‘How Allan Cunningham Found Coochin’, Fassifern Guardian, 21 Mar 1928: 5 (here Logan is said to have climbed ‘Mt Hooker’).
Later in the nineteenth century Rosa Praed wrote that until her brother's ascent, Mt Lindesay was ‘considered insurmountable’ (‘Australian Notes & Cuttings’, The Praed Papers, Oxley Library MS, OM64.001: 23/6/1). In the 1920s JP Thomson wrote that ‘a transposition of the names of Mt Barney and Mt Lindesay … had long been suspected by local pioneers’ (‘Mt Lindesay – Its First Ascent’, Brisbane Courier, 10 Aug 1923: 9).
‘Australian Notes & Cuttings’, The Praed Papers, Oxley Library MS, OM64.001:23/6/1. ‘Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Brisbane Courier, 18 May 1872: 6; ‘Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 18 May 1872: 6; ‘The Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Sydney Morning Herald, 24 May 1872: 4; ‘The Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queensland Times, 30 May 1872: 3.
Waterson, D.B., A Biographical Register of the Queensland Parliament 1860–1929 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972), 180; Obituaries: Brisbane Courier, 30 June 1884: 5; Queensland Figaro, 5 Jul. 1884: 3; Thornton's Statement of Government Appointment, 22 October 1866, Queensland Justice Department Microfilm (QSA, JUS/103 [918090] No. 335).
‘John Kinchela (1774?–1845)’, ADB 1788–1850: 51–52 (and corrigenda - the initial entry mixed up John and James Kinchela); Address to John Kinchela as departing police magistrate at the Vale of Clwyd, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 Mar 1837: 3; Address to John Kinchela on resigning as police magistrate at Bathurst, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 1838: 1; Depasturing License lists for the Wellington District, NSW Government Gazette, 20 June 1838: 472, 19 Feb 1840: 171; Simpson to Colonial Secretary 30 July 1845, 45/5330, OLA2-15: 101–103; ‘Old Jimmy’, Queenslander, 31 Aug 1895: 405; Death Notice (John Kinchela), Sydney Morning Herald, 17 Oct 1849: 4a; ‘Elegy on the Death of J. Kinchela, Esq’, Moreton Bay Courier, 3 Nov 1849: 4; NSW Births Deaths and Marriages microfiche; Gipps to Russell, 7 May 1840, ‘The Humble Petition of the undersigned Magistrates, Landholders, Stockholders and Residents of the District of Wellington’, Historical Records of Australia (Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament, 1914–25) I/20: 613–614); Thornton's obituaries per above; Marriage Notice (James Kinchela), Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Jan 1853: 3a.
John, and Kinchela, James left for Sydney in March 1848. John Kinchela returned briefly to finalize his affairs, before finally departing in early May 1848 (‘Shipping Intelligence’, Moreton Bay Courier, 4 Mar 1848: 2; 1 Apr 1848: 2; 13 May 1848: 2; ‘Notice’ to settle outstanding claims, Moreton Bay Courier, 1 Apr 1848: 1).
‘Shipping Intelligence’, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 May 1846: 2; ‘Shipping Intelligence’, Moreton Bay Courier, 24 Apr 1847: 2.
This is particularly the case in the Upper Logan, where even by the 1890s few details of the initial period of European settlement remained in circulation, a point noted by R.M. Collins in his 1897 Geographical Society paper (Collins: 4–5).
We can gain some idea of the European population of the region in the 1840s from Moreton Bay Crown Land Commissioner Stephen Simpson's returns for the Upper Logan runs (NSW Archives Office Reel 2749):
For instance in the 2 year period 1848–49, 9 of the 11 Upper Logan runs changed hands, one of them twice (NSW Government Gazette, 1 Feb 1848: 158; 17 Oct 1848: 1475; 7 Aug 1849: 1164).
‘Recollections of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 16 June 1894: 1126; W.H. Traill, ‘Mount Coot-tha Reserve’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland) XVII (1901–02): 44. Traill claims the myth was circulating in 1865. His reference is interesting: by this time aware that Logan's ‘Mt Lindesay’ had been renamed Mt Barney, Traill shifts the vines myth to Mt Barney.
Lang mentions the Aboriginal Mt Lindesay vines myth in the account of his 1856 tour through the Upper Richmond and Upper Logan, in Lang, J.D., Queensland Australia (London: E Stanford, 1861), 48–49.
‘The Ascent of Mount Lindsay’, Queenslander, 26 July 1890: 154.
The Brisbane Courier announced ‘Numerous trials have been made to climb this mountain and many a brave man has risked his neck in essaying the feat, but as far as is known success has never crowned any attempt’, Brisbane Courier, 14 July 1890: 4.
A good illustration here is William Thornton and his immediate family. As noted, Thornton died in 1884. His wife Ellen died in 1888 (Death Notice, Queenslander, 1 Sep 1888: 353) as did his stepson Henry Buttanshaw (Obit., Queenslander, 27 Oct 1888: 771). So by the late 1880s, of Thornton's immediate family, only his stepdaughter Margaret Day, who was married to police magistrate W.H. Day, remained in Brisbane.
For notes on Mary Bundock / Murray-Prior's collections and brief biographical details refer to: I. McBryde (ed.), Records of Times Past (Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies, 1978), 135–198, 200–207.
Bundock, W.C. (Mary Murray-Prior's father) is first listed on the depasturing license lists for the Clarence District in 1843 (NSW Government Gazette 27/10/1843: 1395). Mary Murray-Prior was born at Merton on the Hunter River in 1845 and came to Wyangarie as a small child (McBryde: 200). By 1902 the only other early 1840s squatters to have lived continuously in the Mt Lindesay region were the John Collins family (ie R.M. Collins' parents) who came to Moondoolun in the Upper Albert in 1844 (Collins: 7).
Notices, Marriage, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Aug 1902: 1.
If the Bundocks knew of the 1840s ascent, then they seem not to have passed this on to a correspondent from the Australian Town & Country Journal who visited Wyangarie in 1886 on a tour of the Upper Richmond. Taken to a nearby spur to view Mt Lindesay, the correspondent wrote: ‘… the mount appears to rise up in abrupt terraces, the sides of which are most precipitous, and apparently defy all attempts to scale the summit. However, a party once accomplished the feat, lighting a fire upon the peak as a visible token of its success’ (‘On the Upper Richmond’, Australian Town & Country Journal, 20 Nov 1886: 1050). Here the reference is almost certainly to the 1872 ascent.
For brief biographical details on Thomas de Montmorency Murray-Prior refer to Waterson, 135.
‘Ascent of Mount Lindesay’, Evening Observer, 15 Jul. 1890: 3; ‘Mt Lindesay’, Brisbane Courier, 22 Nov 1923: 6.
Over the years Thomas de Montmorency Murray-Prior wrote numerous letters to the newspapers, most of them dealing with pastoral issues. To date we have found 22 letters covering the period 1881–1900.
‘Riverside’ was situated between Main Street and the city side of the Brisbane River, near present day Thornton St. ‘Montpelier’ backed on to nearby Ferry St (F.E. Lord, ‘Brisbane's Historic Homes’, Queenslander, 15 May 1930: 50, 18 Sep 1930: 7).
Obit., Brisbane Courier, 2 Jan 1893: 5.
‘Death of Mr Murray-Prior MLA’, Brisbane Courier, 13 Dec 1902: 6.
‘Mount Lindsay, Story of a Successful Climb’, Brisbane Courier, 2 Aug 1913: 12.
In a remarkable run in the Brisbane Courier in 1923 articles appeared in 4, 10, 11, 13 and 14 August; 1, 21 September; 6, 13 October and 22 November, 1923. A parallel series ran in the Daily Mail for 20, 28 September and 23 October, 1923.
Notice, Death, Brisbane Courier, 19 Aug 1913: 6.
‘Valedictory, Farewell at Maroon’, Fassifern Guardian, 4 Aug 1911: 3.
Obit., Sydney Morning Herald, 23 Apr 1924: 10.
‘Mt Lindesay’, Brisbane Courier, 13 Oct 1923: 19.
Pears died in 1924 aged 78. For brief biographical details see to his obituary, Evening Observer, 14 Apr 1924: 8.
Probably James Glennie, who held Unumgar station from the 1840s through to the 1860s.
‘Mt Lindesay’, Brisbane Courier, 22 Nov 1923: 6. Pears was evidently writing from diary notes made soon after the 1872 ascent.
Jarrott: 6. Jarrott seems to have been working from ‘Traveller's’ article (‘Mt Lindesay’, Brisbane Courier, 13 Oct 1923: 19), which he probably came across in Harry Johns' cutting book and which he appears to attribute to Johns (HW Johns Cutting Book, Oxley Library MS). Why Jarrott dated the Thornton / Kinchela etc ascent to 1872 is unclear.
Boorman is not mentioned in any of the Mt Lindesay ascent literature, but he would almost certainly have reached the summit. His altitude estimate of 4000 ft might have been based on the then given height for Mt Lindesay of 4064 ft, which suggests he would have been above the upper cliffs, an easy walk away from the summit. The current height given for Mt Lindesay is just under 4000 ft.
Copies of the Roberts/Rowland border survey plans are held at the Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying (Brisbane).
