Hamilton Hume: Our Greatest Explorer - the critically acclaimed bestselling biography

by Robert Macklin

'You almost feel you are taking that trek with the party as Robert Macklin cites the obstacles - torrential river crossings, dense bush, the Snowy Mountains and more. Macklin covers Hume's public and private life, emphasising his affinity with the country and rapport with the Indigenous people, as well as providing a portrait of the evolving colony.' SYDNEY MORNING HERALDThe stirring untold story of a true Australian hero who opened up the nation.While English-born soldiers, sailors and surveyors have claimed pride of place among the explorers of the young New South Wales colony, the real pathfinder was a genuine native-born Australian. Hamilton Hume, a man with a profound understanding of the Aboriginal people and an almost mystical relationship with the Australian bush, led settlers from the cramped surrounds of Sydney Town to the vast fertile country that would provide the wealth to found and sustain a new nation.Robert Macklin, author of the critically acclaimed DARK PARADISE, tells the heroic tale of this young Australian man who outdid his English 'betters' by crossing the Blue Mountains, finding a land route from Sydney to Port Phillip and opening up western New South Wales. His contribution to the development of the colony was immense but downplayed in deference to explorers of British origin. HAMILTON HUME uncovers this brave man's achievements and paints an intriguing and at times shocking portrait of colonial life, by the author of the bestselling SAS SNIPER.'Robert Macklin calls Hamilton Hume 'our greatest explorer', and now that I've read this enthralling but at times shocking story, I totally agree.' ***** GOOD READING

Genres: History, Australia, Biography, Nonfiction

355 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 26, 2016

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening sentence: They emerged from the bush like skeletal ghosts, the convicts first, staggering in short steps, all in rags but one - he was barefoot and naked, wild eyes staring from a face of black bristling whiskers.

Australian born Hamilton Hume was the eldest son of free settler Andrew Hume and his wife, English born Eliza Kennedy, who was also matron of the newly established Orphan School for Homeless and Unwanted Girls in Parramatta. She had arrived on the Suprize in 1794 as companion for her widowed brother James and their children. Andrew had embarked for Port Jackson from England on the HMS Guardian in 1789 and with the cataclysmic collision with ice during the journey leaving many dead, he was fortunate to arrive at all.

As Hamilton grew, his surroundings of the Australian bush beckoned him daily. He made friends with the natives as he explored, and this continued throughout his life. (One of his Aboriginal friends who would travel with him time and again was Dual) His great affinity with the bush and the local Aboriginals was legendary. His treks through the bush to the Blue Mountains and beyond; to the Shoalhaven where they were stumped by a raging river; to Port Phillip; and his discovery of the Murray and Darling Rivers – all from Sydney and through previously uncharted and wildly overgrown, sometimes impassable bush, earned him many accolades from his superiors.

Meanwhile as the new nation grew, life in the colony was hard and cruel, especially for those unfortunate enough to be a convict. The natives suffered unimaginable horrors from the new arrivals as well. But Hamilton Hume and some others fought for the rights of both these peoples – all the while opening up the colony and the nation for the future of the Australian people. But the full recognition of Hamilton Hume’s achievements was glossed over in favour of the British, especially the likes of William Hovell.

Hamilton Hume: Our Greatest Explorer by Aussie author Robert Macklin is an amazing book about a man who helped to shape our wonderful nation. Little known facts as well as those we’ve heard about at school (perhaps) are blended to make this a really interesting read. I did find it a little dry in places, but the facts and dates are needed to give the full story. For those who enjoy reading about Australian history, and the making of a nation, I highly recommend Hamilton Hume as an enjoyable and fascinating read.

With thanks to Hachette Australia for this copy to read in exchange for my honest review.

[Colleen Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's true that most early Australian books that celebrate explorers are about the ones that were born outside of Australia. I am really glad that I read this book and learnt about the Australian Explorer Hamilton Hume. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. I started this right after lots of thrilling and funny fiction and thought this would be a dry read. The turning point was when I recognised all of these place names and realised "I've been there! ... This is all real..." after that and the epic realisation of how hard it would have been to travel through these places without the roads I now take for granted, this book was fantastic and I could barely put it down. Reading about the exploits of the native born Hume made me feel proud to be Australian. I also appreciated how the book included a great deal of information on the Aboriginal original owners of the land which many early histories do not include or gloss over. Hume's respect for and friendship with the Aboriginal people, which was so uncommon at the time, leaves him even higher in my regard. Hamilton Hume did so much for the expansion of the fledging colony in Australia and his namesake the Hume Highway that follows his most famous exploratory path is excellent recognition of his efforts.

[Ian Carmichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rattling good yarn. Macklin has indeed done the task he set himself for me at least. As I read and raced through this page-turner, my mind was filled with alternate 'aha's and 'I didn't know that's.
It was such an exciting read that I nearly read the stories faster than I could take them in!
Perhaps the greatest snippet was the origin of the now-proverbial 'Blind Freddie'!
Thoroughly enjoyable, filled in many gaps and now gives me a story to weave around the geography I've just recently become acquainted with and that which I've known my whole life long.
Strongly recommended.

[Gary Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost five stars, but..
There is plenty about Hamilton Hume, but there seems to be more background and concurrent events in this book. I was left thinking how does this and that tie in and back to Hume and his work/life. Macklin goes beyond opening up and setting the scene for early Australian life around exploration. In some parts Macklin does state that information on Hume at times is sparse, which is disappointing.

[Michael Beashel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who loves Australian Colonial History. The man himself would have fitted right into to today's world where there's a focus on the pre-European stewards of this great land, Yes, Hamilton Hume could converse with the indigenous. Just one fascinating aspect of this wonderful explorer. Courage, humility and intelligence are all showcased and there's real drama between Hume and his polar opposite Hovell.

[Greg Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliantly researched; a terrific update on one of the greats from Australia's post-1788 history; Robert Macklin deals very skilfully with the chronology of events relevant to Hume's life and times; You don't need to be a history buff to enjoy reading this. And you don't have to be Australian to appreciate the story. Strongly recommend this.

[Wayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

O.K. A few mistakes re dates and geography that put me off a little. More diligent proof before going to print would have helped perhaps.

More maps needed. The book wandered off Hamilton Hume and talked of gold rushes and bushrangers. Much better to look for Hamilton Hume's brief on Google,

[Ben Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more a book on colonial Australia loosely based around Hamilton Hume. The title is a little misleading. That said it is a bloody good read. I think this has the potential to become an Australian classic. Therefore I still have to give it five stars.

[Nathan Storch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never read a book that went more off-topic.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A confused and confusing book. Was it about Hume? Bushrangers? Or gold rushes? Like the explorers it covers, this book didn't seem to know where it was or where it was going.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed. Very very detailed. And not all about Hume. So I skipped quite a bit.

[Chris Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. The back ground about the history of Australia was fascinating.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was interesting seeing all the names in this book which now appear as street names or suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne

[Mark Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not well known though influential

[Peter Geyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to make of this book, or how to describe it to non-Australian readers. and my rating is a kind of compromise between wanting to know more about Hume than I did previously and the style and content of the book which I found to be more scattered and random with value judgements inserted in a manner that doesn't sit well with how I think a decent historical text should be written.

At school, "Hume and Hovell" was a regular phrase, quickly enunciated in the way of schoolchildren and with not much elaboration other than a particular journey of exploration. There was the Hume highway, of course, the road between Melbourne and Sydney, and the Hume weir/dam, on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. European exploration of Australia is also a general interest of mine anyway, so when wandering into a bookshop a few months ago and seeing this book, I picked it up straight away, with a bit of excitement.

I hadn't heard of the author, Robert Macklin, and was interested to see he was a prolific writer of journalistic material, novels and screenplays. There were endorsements on the back cover by two well-known Australian writers, one a historian, the other comparing an earlier book of Macklin's to the style of Manning Clark, the legendary Australian historian.

This background helps me understand this book, which I found difficult to read. It's very novelistic in style and could easily be a screenplay. It's very close to a hagiography and is also a polemic against various governors, military men and others in the first part of Australian history, from convict colony to free settlement. The writing style to me is nothing like Manning Clark's.

The hero of the story, Hamilton Hume, symbolises the class-oriented conflict between British born settlers and/or office-holders and those born in Australia. Hume is also depicted as interested in and supportive of indigenous culture, in contrast to many others. This perspective is of great personal interest to me as a 5th generation European Australian and I would have liked more on Hume and this topic, but the book really doesn't spend as much time on Hume as the title implies. In fact the content sounds a little like a combination of various family trees and a soap opera. Actually, there appears to be little information available on the man, and the book comprises a lot of padding with contemporary events, loosely linked to Hume.

Hume, as with other characters in the story favourable to Macklin, is continually called "Hamilton", which I found distracting and unprofessional. Historical figures are noit your mates or family and friends. It's quite clear anyway that you have to take sides. It's easy to be on Hume's side rather than Hovell's in what was a long exchange of views about their expedition together, but other characters are too easily judged, positively and negatively, and I found this uncomfortable, as i like to make up my own mind. My reading of Australian history over the decades didn't help either, particularly with Macklin's depiction of Major Mitchell. One or two events described seem at variance with other sources, and Macklin doesn't really provide a decent bibliography.

The book isn't a total loss, in that there's some interesting material on aboriginal settlement practices, an emphasis on the armed struggle between various settlers and the original inhabitants, which some people still seek to deny in some way, the policies in that regard and the change over time, an overview of the gold rushes in Australia, and the anti-Chinese racism that erupted then and later, something about bushrangers, and a few pages on Henry Parkes, called by some the father of Australian federation. These tangents weren't linked very well and I was confused about where I was a number of times.

Part of this could have been due to the lack of maps. Only one is provided, a smallish sketch of south-east Australia, at the start of the book. This is of no help when so many expeditions and travels are mentioned, besides those of Hume. Macklin mentions a large number of place names in his text, but you don't get to see where they are. A number of the places were familiar to me, as a traveller on state and interstate roads, but maps provide context, whether there's familiarity or not. It would be nice to know where the swampy terrain was located or what appeared to be an aboriginal village.

I thought this was sloppy, and that hyperbole replaced a proper historical approach all too often. If I were to recommend anything, it would be to sit in a bookshop and read a few pages to see if this is what you want. This isn't something I do myself, but maybe it was necessary this time.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Macklin's biography of the explorer Hamilton Hume is a detailed yet engaging story that sets Hume's explorations against the tumultuous and mostly brutal times of the birth of Australia as a nation. We read of his 1824 epic journey of discovery as he blazed an inland route from Sydney to Port Phillip Bay near where Melbourne now stands, and which today's Hume Highway follows. We also learn of his immense respect for the original inhabitants of Australia and how he learnt to work with them. The story often veers off into other territory and we don't learn a lot about Hume other than this major exploration. There's a lot on the gold rushes, bushrangers, Aboriginal wars and how each successive NSW governor impacted on the country's development (a few were competent and far-sighted but the majority were ruthless, racist, autocratic and mean-spirited which made for great reading but left Hume on the sidelines). And all were British-born. Hume was born in Australia and therefore considered at the time to be a lower-class citizen! Only the exploits of British-born (the 'exclusives' as they were known) were considered worthy of note. This book ensures Hume is no longer forgotten and I learnt more than I did in Australian history classes. I've given it four stars but I would have liked a bit more about Hume himself. Perhaps a shorter book with the padding left out.

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of an explorer who forged paths in important areas of Australia. While the book does digress at times to other leading characters of the era, they are interesting too. Hume himself comes across as someone who didn't seek fame but who rightly had pride in his expeditions. The book fills a gap in our understanding of Australian history, as Hume is perhaps less well known, compared to other explorers. A particularly good read when travelling between Sydney and Melbourne on train.

[Michael Percy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an engaging, patriotic read. Macklin's style is scholarly yet populist, and draws on an earlier, unpublished work by his father-in-law, Robert Webster. The work includes photographs from the Cooma Cottage at Yass. Hume's story is interwoven with the history of colonial Australia and stories of the British "sterling" class who are now more familiar as place names. I enjoyed the style and I must say I was gripped by the story. I am undecided whether the poetic embellishments reduce the scholarly usefulness of the work, but the story certainly rouses a native-born Australian's regard for Hume the man, and his ultimate victory over the vainglorious Hovell and his claims over Hume's achievements. The backstory of Hume's friend, the famous explorer Charles Sturt, not to mention many of the famous early explorers, are revived in this work and go a long way to filling in the gaps provided by a nationalistic 1970s primary school education that appears now to be passé. My thoughts keep going back to Macklin's writing style, and that his father-in-law's work could not find a commercial publisher. As a reader, I appreciate Macklin's style, but it makes we wonder how much scholarly compromise is made when adapting such work for a popular audience. This is not a criticism of Macklin's style, but rather a recurring reflection for my own practice. While I am interested in Australian history and can enjoy reading scholarly historical accounts, I cannot help but wonder what has been lost in a retelling that results in a gripping yarn about an important but otherwise under-appreciated Australian explorer and bushman. At the same time, I wonder whether the story would have resurfaced had it not been written in such a style. I daresay one must simply choose and suffer the judgements of one's audience accordingly.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing , man-in-the-street , style of account of Sydney town during the life of Hamilton Hume, in fact the book could almost have ben called The Life and Times of HH. The coverage of the man himself is extensive and detailed, but it's the vignettes of his contemporary people and events that give a colourful and interesting framework to his life that really make this book.

This book went some way toward providing an explanation for the development of the Australian psyche and development of a nation from what at best was an expedient social experiment.

However, while it was refreshing to hear the voice of the everyday man for a change in a history book, I felt that the authority bashing was at times overdone and almost gratuitous, but don't let that stop you grabbing a copy and settling in for a damn good read.

[Shire of Dardanup Libraries]

A well researched biography of a great Australian who, most notably led the expedition from Sydney to Port Philip bay – the future site of Melbourne. Conversant with the Aboriginal population and equipped with survival skills in the Australian bush, Hume is portrayed as a respectful and knowledgeable leader. Maclin, a journalist presents history in a very readable format.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really was an eye-opening account of a man whose incredible contribution to colonial exploration was down-played (hijacked) because he was not "sterling" (British-born & educated). His skills & stamina - mental & physical - and his genuine empathy with the Australian Aboriginals made him a 'standout' in an era of colonial snobbery, bigotry and incredible cruelty.
Whilst the style of writing made it enjoyable to read, it seemed rather like a sketch - enough information to present a picture of the man and the social, political & geographical environment which affected his life, but missing detail that would have given solidity and depth. Still a very worthwhile read and one which made me realise how 'sketchy' is my knowledge of colonial Australia and the significant men and women of that time!