John Finnegan, a convict of the colony of

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 ...

(now

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

), was one of four men who set off on a timber getting mission from

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

bound for

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

in 1823. The men were caught in a severe storm and driven north 728 km to

Moreton Island Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...

off the coast of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, becoming the first Europeans to live in the area and the first to discover the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

. Prior to this a number of earlier explorers had sailed the

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

area. Most notable was

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...

who spent 15 days in the general vicinity during his 1799 expedition from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

Hervey Bay Hervey Bay () is a city on the coast of the Fraser Coast Region of Queensland, Australia. The city is situated approximately or 3½ hours' highway drive north of the state capital, Brisbane. It is located on the bay of the same name open to ...

. Due to the difficulty of finding coastal rivers by seaward exploration, none of these explorers became aware of the existence of the

. Later in 1823, when 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 ...

, was commissioned by Governor Brisbane to find sites for further penal settlements, he made a trip to the

area. If not for a chance meeting with one of Finnegan’s surviving partners,

Thomas Pamphlett Thomas Pamphlett (1788?–1838), sometimes Pamphlet, also known as James Groom, was a convict in colonial Australia. He is best known for his time as a castaway in the Moreton Bay area, halfway up the eastern coast of Australia, in 1823. He was mar ...

, and the men telling him of a large freshwater river they had stumbled across some months earlier, Oxley may never have made the exploration that led to the establishment of Brisbane Town some years later.

The 'Timbergetting' Voyage

The four men,

, Richard Parsons, John Thompson and Finnegan himself, left Sydney on 21 March 1823 bound for the ‘Five Islands’ (

). They had been hired to fetch cedar wood. Shortly after they departed a fierce storm blew them out to sea and they were forced to go 21 days without water. During this time Thompson died and was buried at sea a few days later, his friends not being able to put their boat ashore. The three survivors were beached on Moreton Island on 16 April 1823 and made friends with the local Aborigines. Assuming themselves to be somewhere south of

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village in the Jervis Bay Territory and on the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay, known as the Jervis Bay Terri ...

, the explorers determined to get back to Sydney. The natives took them by boat across the passage to Stradbroke Island where they spent approximately six weeks with the Noonucal tribe before heading across to the mainland, pulling in somewhere around the

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

area. They then began to travel north in hope of reaching civilization. It wasn't long before the trio stumbled across a large

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

which they were unable to cross. They trekked upstream for almost a month, weakened due to lack of good food and hardly able to swim many of the creeks they encountered en route. Upon reaching Oxley Creek, however, they procured a canoe and attempted their first crossing of the river.Extract from account by Pamphlett

Found

It was later in the year when John Oxley made his entrance into Moreton Bay. An extract from his diary on 19 November 1823 describes his unexpected meeting with Pamphlett:At the time of the meeting Finnegan was away on a hunting trip and Parsons had continued north in search of Sydney, an endeavour the other two men had decided to abandon, choosing rather to return to the

Bribie Island Bribie Island is the smallest and most northerly of three major sand islands forming the coastline sheltering the northern part of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. The others are Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island. Bribie Island is ...

area to live with the natives. When Finnegan returned the two men related to Oxley their discovery of the large river. Oxley was determined to explore it and, taking Finnegan with them as their guide, he and Stirling set off on 1 December 1823, entering the river the following day.

The 'Timbergetting' Voyage

Found

References

See also