Richard Parsons, a sawyer and 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 free or ticket-of-leave men and the half proprietor of a boat 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 seeing their boat smashed at the northern end of

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 ...

. He was probably the first Euoropean to both live in the area and 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 it was not for a chance meeting with one of Parson's surviving partners, Thomas Pamphlett, 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 lead to the establishment of Brisbane Town some years later. By the time of Oxley pulled into Moreton Bay, Parsons was gone. Mistakenly believing that they were somewhere south of Sydney he had set of north on foot. His two companions began to travel with him but, upon reaching the

Mooloolah River The Mooloolah River is a river in South East Queensland, Australia. The river rises from the eastern slopes of the Blackall Range and flows east-northeast, similar to the Maroochy River to the north. The mouth of the river is at southern Mooloo ...

, Pamphlett decided to return to live with the Moreton Bay natives they had befriended earlier. Later John Finnegan also returned, having quarrelled with Parsons upon reaching the Noosa River. Parsons went on, he believed as far as 'four of five hundred miles'. Most believe this distance to be much exaggerated but he may well have gone as far as present day

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...

before he, as he later said, 'began to suspect his error by the extreme heat he felt, as he advanced.' Parsons eventually returned to Bribie Island from where he was picked up by Oxley on 11 September 1824 and he finally came back to Sydney on 15 October alongside

's party on board the Government brig ''Amity''. A brief account of his story was subsequently printed in ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

''.The Australian 21 October 1824, page 2; Steele, J. G.: The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830, St Lucia, 1972. pp. 51-86; The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888, by Ernest Favenc, 200

Notes

References

Steele, John Gladstone: 'The Explorers of the Moreton Bay District 1770-1830', St Lucia, 1972, 386 pages documentary, illustrated. {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Richard Year of birth missing Year of death missing Australian explorers Pre-Separation Queensland