(Andrew) Hamilton Hume

Explorer, born in Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. From the age of 17 he made several expeditions, discovering the Goulburn and Yass plains (1822) and L Bathurst in S New South Wales, saw part of the Murray R (1824), made the first sighting of Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko, and received grants of land as reward. In 1828 Hume joined Charles Sturt's expedition which discovered the Darling R, but poor health prevented his continuing, and he settled down to farm his land grants near Yass. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1860.

Hamilton Hume (19 June 1797 – 19 April 1873) was an Australian explorer.

Hume was born in Parramatta, a settlement close to (and now a suburb of) Sydney. His father was Andrew Hamilton Hume, who came to Australia in 1790 as a superintendent of convicts and soon afterwards became a free settler. There were few opportunities for education in Australia during the first 10 years of the nineteenth century, and Hamilton Hume received most of his education from his mother.

In 1824 Hume was seen by Governor Brisbane with reference to an expedition to Spencer Gulf. Difficulties arose about the financing of the journey and eventually the two men decided to make the journey at their own expense, except for some packsaddles, arms, clothes and blankets, which were provided from government stores. Hume in a letter dated 24 January 1825, immediately after the return of the explorers, practically claimed to have been the leader of the party. by two young men Messrs Hovell and Hume . The courage, resource and bushmanship of Hume were important factors in surmounting their many difficulties, and after a journey of 11 weeks they came to Corio Bay near the present site of Geelong. Hume and Hovell each received grants of 1200 acres of land, an inadequate reward for discoveries of great importance made by an expedition which, practically speaking, paid its own expenses.

In November 1828, Hume journeyed with Charles Sturt into western New South Wales, where they discovered the Darling River, the Murray River's longest tributary. Hume was able to communicate with some aborigines they met early in their journey who consented to act as guides, and later, when the aborigines left them, Sturt speaks with appreciation of Hume's ability in tracking their animals which had strayed. Sturt would have liked Hume to go with him on his second expedition, which started at the end of 1829, but he had a harvest to get in and was unable to make arrangements.

In December 1853 an imperfect report of a speech Hovell had made at Geelong was the cause of much feeling between the two men. Hume had always regarded himself as the real leader of their joint expedition, and his indignation lost all bounds at the thought of Hovell minimizing his share in the work. Fuller reports of the speech show that this was not the case, but the vehemency of Hume and his friends at the time, led to the work of Hovell being underrated for a long period. Hume published in 1855 A Brief Statement of Facts in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip in 1824, which went into three editions. Hovell published two pamphlets Reply to "A Brief Statement of Facts in Connection with an Overland Expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip in 1824", and an Answer to the Preface to the Second Edition of Mr Hamilton Hume's "A Brief Statement of Facts", (for a balanced discussion of the merits of the case see paper by professor Sir Ernest Scott in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol.

Hume was an excellent explorer, a first-rate bushman never lacking in courage and resource, whose work was not adequately appreciated or rewarded by the government of the time.

Hume later served as a magistrate in Yass until his death at Yass on 19 April 1873. He is sometimes stated to have been the author of The Life of Edward John Eyre, but the Hamilton Hume who wrote this book lived in London.

The Hume and Hovell expedition is commemorated by the Hume Highway, the principal road between Sydney and Melbourne. Hume and Hovell were also commemorated by having their portraits printed on the Australian one-pound banknote between 1953 and 1966.