The third in the Albury and District Historical Society's series leading up to November's bicentenary of the Hume and Hovell expedition.
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The Hume and Hovell expedition party included six servant men; Claude Bossawa, James Fitzpatrick and Henry Angel were Hume's men while Hovell provided William Bollard, Thomas Smith and Thomas Boyd. In contrast to other explorations their names are known. Bollard was a free settler arriving May 1822 on the ship Providence.
Although transported to NSW for various crimes, the five convict men gained a "free pardon" following the expedition through Hume's intercession with the governor. In his letter to Governor Brisbane on his way to Sydney, Hume writes:
"I beg leave to recommend to Your Excellency's notice and favourable consideration, the men who accompanied us on the expedition, as they have undergone a great deal of fatigue, and have been very attentive to all orders given to them."
Clothes needed mending, shoes replaced
For the journey, the men had a blanket and would sleep together under a tarpaulin. Their clothes, called dress slops, became torn and were mended on the rest day near today's Yea on December 4-5.
Their shoes wore out and were replaced with moccasins made from the hide of the old bullock which they slaughtered at the Arndell River. They smoked and ate its meat. On their trek into Gunning three men, Bossawa, Smith and Bollard, were described as walking skeletons and were carried in the drays.
Claude Bossawa is mentioned on December 14 when the perambulator wheel (distance measuring) broke against a rock. James Fitzpatrick was chased by Aboriginal people on December 16 evening when they camped by the sea. He had gone out alone to shoot ducks. Hume and Tom Boyd came to his rescue.
Both leaders testified to Henry Angel's ability to manage the horses and cattle. On his return he was rewarded with a pair of bullocks and a ticket-of-leave for the Illawarra District. Fitzpatrick (Cootamundra), Angel (Tumut) and Boyd (Tumut) became respected landowners.
Bollard was a hotelier (Carriers Arms) at Picton but little was known about the lives of Smith, who died at Eastern Creek in 1837, and Bossawa, who never married and died in The Sydney Convict Hospital in 1841.
Thomas Boyd was the last surviving member of the party and died on June 27, 1885. He was a special guest, two years before, at the ceremony for the linking of Victorian and NSW railway lines in Albury.
