In 1813, he led the first known European trip across the Blue Mountains. He went along with William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth. Their trip opened up the inland of the continent.
Blaxland visited England and in February 1823 he published his "Journal Of A Tour Of Discovery Across The Blue Mountains". Later the same year Blaxland was awarded the silver medal of the Royal Society of Arts for some wine he had sent to London. Five years later he got the gold medal. In January 1827 Blaxland was elected by a public meeting with two others to ask Governor Darling for "Trial by jury" and "Taxation by Representation" for the colony.
Blaxland is noted as one of the first settlers to plant grapes for wine-making purposes.
He died by his own hand in 1 January 1853 in New South Wales. He is buried in All Saints Cemetery in Parramatta.
The township of Blaxland in the Blue Mountains is named after him. So is the Division of Blaxland.
In 1963 he was honoured, together with Lawson and Wentworth, on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post showing the Blue Mountains crossing.
Romeo Smith has a boat on Home and away called the Blaxland.
Watchdog timer
A watchdog timer is a component of an electronic system that makes sure the system is operating properly. These components can either be done as a piece of hardware or as software. Depending on the intended use, they either signal that a system is not working properly, or they make a system work properly again. A watchdog timer may cause a system to reset itself to its initial state.
William Lawson
William Lawson may mean:
William Lawson (explorer)
William Lawson (2 June 1774 – 16 June 1850) was an explorer of New South Wales, Australia. He helped discover a passage inland through the Blue Mountains from Sydney.
Lawson was born in Finchley, Middlesex, England. He is the son of Scottish parents. Lawson came to Sydney as an ensign with the New South Wales Corps in November 1800. He was soon posted to Norfolk Island.
After 1808, Lawson was appointed aide-de-camp to George Johnston. He was given 500 acres (2 km²) at Prospect. He built a 40-room mansion there.
In 1813 Lawson, with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, led a trip west from Sydney to cross the Blue Mountains.
They left on 11 May 1813 with four servants, five dogs and four horses. The route they travelled is still the one used by travellers today. On 31 May 1813 they reached Mount Blaxland and could see the plains to the west.
Lawson was rewarded with a grant of 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land. He ended up one of the largest land-holders in Australia. He was made a magistrate and was appointed commandant at Newcastle.
In 1819 Governor Lachlan Macquarie made a new settlement, Bathurst. He made Lawson commander of the Bathurst settlement. Lawson had this job until 1823. From Bathurst, Lawson explored as far north as Mudgee.
After leaving the army, Lawson was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1843 to 1848. He died at Veteran Hall on 16 June 1850. The town of Lawson in the Blue Mountains is named for him.
In 1963 Lawson was honoured, together with Blaxland and Wentworth, on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post showing the Blue Mountains crossing.
William Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth (13 August 1790 – 20 March 1872) was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician. He was one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales. He was the first native-born Australian to get a reputation overseas. He wanted self-government for the Australian colonies.
In 1796 Wentworth arrived in Sydney. It was then a poor prison settlement. The family lived at Parramatta. His father became a prosperous landowner. In 1802 he was sent to England. He went to a school in London. He returned to Sydney in 1810. He was appointed acting Provost-Marshall by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. He was given a land grant of on the Nepean River.
On 15 October 1810, at Hyde Park, Wentworth won the first official horse races on Australian soil.
In 1813 Wentworth, along with Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson, led the trip which found a route across the Blue Mountains. The town of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains is named for him. As a reward he was given another .
Wentworth returned to England in 1816. There he was admitted to the bar, travelled in Europe, and studied at Cambridge University.
In 1819 Wentworth published the first book written by an Australian: "A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and Its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land, With a Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America". He said there should be an elected assembly for New South Wales, trial by jury and settlement of Australia by free emigrants rather than convicts.
Wentworth successfully completed his legal studies by 1822 and was called to the bar. In 1823 he was admitted to Peterhouse, Cambridge. That year he also published an epic poem "Australasia", which contains lines now famous in Australia:
Wentworth returned to Sydney in 1824. He was joined by Robert Wardell. His father died in 1827 and William inherited his property. This made him one of the wealthiest men in the colony.
Wentworth became Vice-President of the Australian Patriotic Association and founded a newspaper, "The Australian". It was the colony's first privately owned paper.
He was elected to the Council in 1843 and soon became the leader of the conservative party. He was against the liberals led by Charles Cowper. In 1853 Wentworth chaired the committee to draft a new constitution for New South Wales. In 1856 Wentworth retired from the Council and settled in England.
He died in England, but at his request his body was returned to Sydney for burial.
The towns of Wentworth and Wentworth Falls, the federal Division of Wentworth, an electorate in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, the Wentworth Falls waterfall, and Wentworth Avenue which runs through the suburb of Kingston in Canberra, were named after him.
In 1963 he was honoured, together with Blaxland and Lawson, on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post showing the Blue Mountains crossing. Another stamp was issued again in 1974 on the anniversary of the first newspaper publication.
The Wentworth Building, where University of Sydney Union resides, was named after William Wentworth.
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main armament (main weapons) consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships are larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. After the old wooden sailing ship of the line became obsolete around 1870, battleships were the new capital ships, the largest armed ships in a fleet. They were used to take command of the sea, and represented the apex of a nation's naval power.
The development of explosive artillery shells made the use of iron armor plate on warships necessary. In 1859 France launched "Gloire", the first ocean-going ironclad warship. She had the profile of a ship of the line, cut to one deck due to weight considerations. Although made of wood and reliant on sail for most journeys, "Gloire" was fitted with a propeller, and her wooden hull was protected by a layer of thick iron armor. "Gloire" prompted further innovation from the Royal Navy, anxious to prevent France from gaining a technological lead. Meanwhile, smaller ironclad warships became the main tool of the United States Navy in river combat in the American Civil War. In 1906 the new HMS Dreadnought made all older battleships obsolete.