Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/80

 MITCHELL, THOMAS LIVINGSTONE (1792–1855), Australian explorer, born 16 June 1792, was son of John Mitchell of Craigend, Stirlingshire, by the daughter of Alexander Miln of Carron Works. At the age of sixteen he joined the army in the Peninsula as a volunteer, and three years later he received a commission in the 95th regiment or rifle brigade. He was employed for along time on the quartermaster-general's staff, thus obtaining much experience in military sketching, and he was present at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, the Pyrenees, and St. Sebastian, for which he received a silver medal with five clasps. After the war was over he was sent back to Spain and Portugal on a special mission, to survey the battlefields and the positions of the armies. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 16 Sept. 1813, placed on half-pay in 1818, came on full pay again in 1821, and served in the 2nd, 54th, and 97th regiments of foot until 1826, when his active career in the army ended. He was promoted to the rank of captain on 3 Oct. 1822, and to that of major on 29 Aug. 1826.

In 1827 Mitchell published his 'Outlines of a System of Surveying for Geographical and Military Purposes,' a useful little work at the time. During 1827 he was appointed deputy surveyor-general to the colony of New South Wales, and in the following year he succeeded to the surveyor-generalship, an appointment he held until his death. During his tenure of office his work was of the greatest possible use to the colony, especially in connection with laying out new roads. In 1830 he completed his survey of the great road to the Western Plains and Bathurst, and although this route was not accepted at the time, the soundness of his judgment is proved by the fact that both the road and railway now follow the track then laid down by him. His survey of the colony was published in three sheets in 1835, a work remarkable for the accuracy with which the natural features are delineated.

Mitchell will, however, be chiefly remembered on account of his four explorations into the then unknown interior of Australia, expeditions which place him in the first rank of the pioneers of that continent. The first exploration was due to the interest aroused in the colony by the fabulous tale of a convict, who pretended that he had discovered a wide and navigable river to the northward of the Liverpool range, and that he had followed it to the north coast. As a search for the mythical stream must in any case settle many important geographical problems, the government accepted Mitchell's offer to lead an exploring party in the direction indicated. He left Sydney in November 1831, and entered terra incognita near where Tamworth and its railway station now stand. Continuing his northward journey, he crossed the Gwydir, and struck the Barwan near the present boundary of Queensland. This was the furthest point he reached, for the murder of two of his party by natives, as they were bringing up a reserve supply of provisions, made a return to the colony a necessity. But during his three months' absence he had pro ved that no great river flowing northward existed in that part of the country, and he rendered it almost certain that all the rivers he had crossed flowed into the Darling.

Mitchell's second exploration was undertaken in consequence of representations from the government at home that a survey of the course of the Darling would be very desirable. Leaving Sydney in 1835, he descended the valley of the Bogan river, the course of which was only partially known, and he reached Bourke on the Darling. During this advance Richard Cunningham, the botanist to the expedition, lost his way and was killed by the natives, although every effort was made to find him. Bourke had previously been reached by Sturt, and that traveller had also discovered the existence of a large river entering the Murray, but the true identity of this stream with the Darling was only conjectural. Mitchell succeeded in tracing the Darling to within a hundred miles of its junction with the Murray, but beyond this point it was not possible to proceed, on account of the threatening attitude of the natives, which had already resulted in a conflict and loss of life on their side. He traced his way back along the bank of this weary river, which at this arid season was not joined by a single tributary for over three hundred miles, and which flowed through a country quite uninhabitable by man or beast, according to our explorer, but for this solitary stream.

Mitchell's third, and perhaps most important, journey was undertaken with the view of definitely connecting the Murray with the Darling. He left Sydney in 1836, descended the valleys of the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee to the Murray, and then passed along the banks of this latter stream to the mouth of the Darling. He ascended the Darling valley sufficiently far to render it certain that it was in fact the same watercourse that he had descended on his last expedition, and then faced about and retraced his steps up the Murray river. During this advance he had a somewhat serious encounter with his old enemies, the Darling tribe, in which several of the natives were killed. From this point his discoveries