1819 he pushed over the hills and discovered Mudgee
Maurice Joseph Hennessey, under the nom de plume of "Old Ned", on September 22, 1907, wrote in the Mudgee Guardian, the following article dealing with the early days of Mudgee.
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"We are told how William Cox, having completed the road over the Blue Mountains received from Governor Macquarie a grant of land at Bathurst.
This was in 1816, and Hereford as the station was called, was soon stocked with cattle. William Lawson was also a run holder in the Bathurst district.
After Cox stocked Hereford, the squatter faced a severe drought, and the country around Bathurst as far as then known was unable to carry the stock.
William Lawson who was an enterprising man, and one of the first discoverers of Bathurst had heard from the local Aboriginals of a fine country which lay north of that town.
About 1819 he pushed over the hills and discovered Mudgee.
He moved on as far as the Talbragar River, where he shortly established a station, faint traces of which can still be seen about three quarters of a mile from the junction with Coolah creek now called the Coolaburragundy River.
Some notes by Henry Cox states that Lawson had no partner in his discovery.
When Lawson returned to Bathurst he told of the country he had seen, and so glowing was his description that George Cox was determined to follow his footsteps.
George Cox was eldest son of Willliam Cox, and the father of George Henry Cox, of Burrundulla.
George Cox accompanied by a stockman named Richard Lewis, and an Aboriginal named Aaron, who acted as a guide, and after whom the narrow pass at the bottom of the Tarabucca Range was named.
It is said by some that Mr. Lee a squatter on the Bathurst side, was one of the party.
Mr Cox's party travelled as far as the Talbragar, and then worked back to Bathurst.
So highly did Cox think of the country he had seen that he summoned his brother Henry in Sydney to assist in removal of part of their herd.
After various delays, a mob of 500 cattle was got together, and a start was made.
The party consisted of George and Henry Cox, Richard Lewis, two stockmen and two labourers, to erect stockyards and huts.
The name of one of these men was Tom Frome, after whom Mount Frome was named.
Tom was the first man to ascent its summit.
The journey was accomplished without much difficulty and on the sixth day the pioneer squatters reached Broombee.
A camp was found at a bend in the river.
On the following day the cattle were left in charge of two men and the rest of the party rode forth to choose a location for the station.
After a good deal of discussion Menah Flats was chosen.
A return was then made to the camp, when it was found that the men and the cattle had moved to the Mudgee water hole.
They were found where Bleak House now stands.
was not until later in the afternoon that the wanderers were found in the reeds of the centre of the Burrundulla swamp.
So high were the reeds that the cattle could only bee seen with difficulty,"
Further articles by "Old Ned" may be read in my 2001 book, "When Our Beards Were Black". Roy Cameron, OAM.
When our beards were black
A series of articles written by Maurice Joseph Hennessy between 1898 and 1913, about his travels in and out of the Central West of New South Wales / collected and assembled by Roy Cameron and Annette Piper