Archibald Bell (15 April 1804 – 9 August 1883) was an English explorer and politician.

Life and family

Archibald Bell was born on 15 April 1804 in county Hertfordshire, England, the son of Archibald Bell and Maria (''née'' Kitching), one of ten children. He arrived in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

with his family in July 1807 aboard the ''Young William'', his father being an officer of the New South Wales Corps. Bell married Francis Ann North in 1833 at Windsor; Ann was the daughter of Lieutenant Samuel North, pastoralist and Police Magistrate for Windsor. Bell maintained his activities as a pastoralist in between explorations of Sydney's north-west.

Exploration

In August 1823 Archibald Bell, aged nineteen years, traveled along the route that would later become the Bell's Line of Road. Although the mountains had been crossed at Katoomba a decade earlier, there was still no satisfactory route through the mountains from Richmond at this time. On the journey from Richmond to Mount Tomah Bell followed the directions of an Aboriginal woman who had travelled the route. Other sources claim Bell was shown the route by the

Darug The Dharug or Darug people, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects o ...

men, Emery and Cogy. He initially failed to find a safe descent to the west from

Mount Tomah Mount Tomah is a locality and a mountain that is located in the Blue Mountains region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The locality is known for the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden on the Bells Line of Road. Description The vill ...

, but returned a month later and was able to travel into the Hartley valley where he joined up with Cox's road. Bell found the greatest difficulty on the journey "was in the thick part of his way to Tomah, so much so that in one place he was forced to cut his way through three miles". Bell used the Aboriginal term 'Balcamatta' to describe the country below Mount Tomah where he encountered difficulty proceeding. Upon his return in September 1823 Archibald Bell sent his report of the route over the Blue Mountains to Governor Brisbane. Soon afterwards the surveyor-general

John Oxley John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828) was an English List of explorers, explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps bes ...

instructed his assistant-surveyor

Robert Hoddle Robert Hoddle (21 April 1794 – 24 October 1881) was a surveyor and artist. He was the first Surveyor-General of Victoria from 1851 to 1853. He was previously the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District from 1837 to 1851. He became ...

to survey Bell's line of road. Hoddle completed the task and his survey report was submitted in November 1823.The Early Days
''Sydney Stock and Station Journal'', 15 October 1920, page 8. The road across the mountains was soon afterwards cleared and formed by convict labour.Motor Tour
''Maitland Daily Mercury'', 3 November 1939, page 4. Bell also explored the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

and saved the explorers Howe and

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

from starvation. As a reward, he was given a grant of at Patrick's Plains, naming his estate 'Corinda'. He specialized in breeding horses for coaching and hackney horses. He was granted on the Hunter River near Belford in 1839. He had other estates in the Hunter Valley and moved from Corinda to Milgarra at Bunnan near Scone in 1849. In 1859 he bought Pickering at Denman, an freehold estate on the Hunter River. He lived there until his death on 9 August 1883. Bell represented

Upper Hunter The Upper Hunter Shire is a local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi and Merriwa shires. The mayor of the Upper Hunter Shir ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

from 1868 to 1872 and was appointed to the Legislative Council for life in 1879. The township of

Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

, Mount Bell, the Bell Range and

Bells Line of Road Bells Line of Road is a major road located in New South Wales, Australia, providing an alternative crossing of the Blue Mountains to the Great Western Highway. The eastern terminus of the road is in , 51 km northwest of Sydney, where the roa ...

were named after the explorer.

References

External links

Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

- includes digitised letters written by Bell to the

Colonial Secretary of New South Wales Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * Col ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Archibald 1804 births 1883 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from the Hunter Region 19th-century English explorers 19th-century English politicians