CHAPTER 7. SIR THOMAS MITCHELL.

[Illustration. Sir Thomas Mitchell.]

7.1. INTRODUCTORY.

Mitchell, whose name both as explorer and Surveyor-General looms large in
our history, was born at Craigend, Stirlingshire, in 1792. He was the son
of John Mitchell of Grangemouth, and his mother was a daughter of
Alexander Milne of Carron Works. When he was but sixteen, young Mitchell
joined the army of the Peninsula as a volunteer. Three years later he
received a commission in the 95th Regiment or Rifle Brigade. He was
employed on the Quartermaster General's staff at military sketching; and
he was present in the field at Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, the
Pyrenees, and St. Sebastian. After the close of the war he went to Spain
and Portugal to survey the battlefields. He received promotion to a
Lieutenancy in 1813. He served in the 2nd, 54th, and 97th Regiments of
foot, and was promoted to be Captain in 1822, and Major in 1826. His
appointment as Surveyor-General of New South Wales, as successor to John
Oxley, took place in 1827, when he at once assumed office, and started
energetically to lay out and construct roads, then the urgent need of the
new colony.

His strong personality, and the energy and thoroughness he displayed in
all his undertakings, combined with his many gifts as draughtsman,
surveyor and organizer, proved to be of peculiar service to the colony at
that period of its existence. There was a vast unknown country
surrounding the settled parts, awaiting both discovery and development,
and Mitchell's inclinations and talents being strongly directed towards
geographical discovery, the office of Surveyor-General that he held for
so long was the most appropriate and advantageous appointment that could
have been given him in the interests of the colony.

At the same time, Major Mitchell had faults which have always detracted
from the estimation in which he would otherwise be held for his undoubted
capabilities. His domineering temper led him into acts of injustice, and
often made it impossible for him to allow the judgments of others to
influence his opinions. In his view, no other explorer but himself ever
achieved anything worthy of commendation or propounded any credible
theory regarding the interior of Australia. He always referred
slightingly to Sturt, Cunningham, and Leichhardt, and his perversity on
the subject of the junction of the Darling and the Murray drew even from
the gentle Sturt a ric