Plan of the River Brisbane &c by John Oxley, Surveyor of New South Wales.

Mapmaker:

John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1783-1828)

Born in Yorkshire and appointed midshipman on the Venerable in 1799, in 1801 he was transferred to the Buffalo, and sailed to Australia arriving in October 1802. For the next four years he surveyed parts of the coast of New South Wales and Tasmania before returning to England. He returned in November 1808 to take up the position of first lieutenant on HMS Porpoise. He returned to England in 1810, retiring from the navy but in May 1812 sailed for Sydney to take up his new appointment as surveyor-general of New South Wales.

He then explored as much territory as he had surveyed in the early years: in 1817 with George Evans in the Lachlan River region and in 1818 along the Macquarie River, failing to find these rivers’ sources but opening up much land for sheepherding. His Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales (1820) was the first description of the area and provided the basis for later explorations by Charles Sturt and T.L. Mitchell. His coastal surveys included the charting of Jervis Bay and Port Macquarie (1819). In 1823, returning from Port Curtis, he explored Moreton Bay and 50 miles (80 km) up the Brisbane River. His reports led to penal settlements at Port Macquarie and Port Curtis.

From his return in 1812, Oxley had business interests; he was agent for companies and creditors, engaged in cattle raising, and was a breeder of prize sheep; he also served as bank director and agricultural adviser. On his expanded holdings he built his estate at Kirkham in 1815. Oxley was also active in the Bible Society, institutions for orphans, and the Philosophical Society and served as a magistrate and legislator. He died in straitened circumstances.