John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1783-1828)

Born in England, Oxley joined the British Navy and came to New South Wales in 1802. In 1812 he was appointed surveyor-general of the colony. In 1817 and 1818 he explored the Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers. Unable to find their sources, he subscribed to the later disproved theory that the rivers flowed to an inland sea. As well as his work in land surveying, he made several surveys of the coast, during which he found the Tweed River and explored the Morton Bay area. This led to the establishment of a settlement at Morton Bay in 1824.

Oxley was a strong opponent of Governor Macquarie's emancipist policy and was in 1824-25 a member of the first Legislative Council. He was involved in the development of banking in the colony and helped establish the first subscription library. He was granted land in the Camden area in 1810 and in 1815 became a pioneer settler in the Bowral area. After his death his sons were issued a large area of additional land there in recognition of their father's work. The present town of Bowral is situated on part of their land.

John Oxley entered the Wellington Valley, Surveyor-General for the colony on 19 August 1817, during his exploration of the Lachlan Valley. The party of explorers, including George Evans and Alan Cunningham, explorer and botanist, entered the valley through Glenfinlass (Curra Creek), finding and naming the Bell and Macquarie Rivers. Oxley called the valley "The Vale of Tempe". As the news of the Battle of Waterloo had reached the colony before Oxley left on his exploration, he called the valley Wellington after the Duke of Wellington. In 1819 Oxley wrote of a deport established at Wellington to assist with further exploration to the west.

Surveyor James Meehan

8th May 1820
Government Gazette No. W1040 W1165, "Missing Marginal Notes from the Government Records of the Lands Department Office", shows that in the course of an expedition from Mossvale to Bathurst, Surveyor James Meehan on 8th May 1820, struck the Macquarie River five miles from the Wellington Valley and continued west, thinking he was going towards Bathurst. He found some huts and an old stone fireplace and thought they were at Oxley's depot, but he was west of the Wellington Valley. He made no mention of the Bell River. He came to where the Little River joined the Macquarie about 14 miles from Wellington and about 10 miles from Ponto, which commenced west of Mount Arthur and the Wellington Valley. He took another reading and discovered he was going away from Bathurst and returned the way he had come.

Charles Stuart & Hamilton Hume  Explorers 1828

Charles Stuart started his expedition at Wellington Valley 7th December 1828, a time of drought, with the object of tracing the course of the lower Macquarie River and extending the boundaries of discovery westward. The party consisted of Stuart, Hume and 11 other men and lasted until April 1829.

The first European to see the caves was probably someone associated with Lieutenant Simpson's settlement (1823-1831) but the first written account was provided by the explorer Hamilton Hume in 1828. He noted: 'The inside of the cave is beautifully formed and some parts of it are supported by pillars 50 feet high and beautifully carved by nature.'

Major Thomas Mitchell

Major Thomas Mitchell, explorer and surveyor, visited Wellington and the Caves in 1829-30. He sent samples of fossils and bones from the Caves to the British Museum.

13th April 1831
Geological specimens from Wellington aroused interest at a Geol. They were the first fossils to be received from Australia, and the bones of large, extinct marsupials created much interest among scientists of the day.