George William Evans

George William Evans

George William Evans
George William Evans was born on 5 January 1780, in Warwick, England. Evans had a short apprenticeship with an engineer and architect and gained some elementary training in surveying. In 1798 he married Jennett, the daughter of Captain Thomas Melville, commander of the Britannia in the Third Fleet and later of the Speedy, and migrated to the Cape of Good Hope. Evans was employed in the Naval Store-keeper's Department at Table Bay and remained there until May 1802 when, in observance with the treaty of Amiens, British forces were withdrawn. Evans was persuaded by Captain William Kent to go to New South Wales, and he arrived at Port Jackson in H.M.S Buffalo on 16 October 1802.
Evans was initially given the position of store-keeper (in charge of the receipt and issue of grain at Parramatta), but in August 1803, Evans was given the job of acting surveyor-general in the absence of Charles Grimes who was on leave in England. In September 1804, Evans discovered and explored the Warragamba River, penetrating upstream to the present site of Warragamba Dam. Dismissed from the Survey Department by Governor Philip Gidley King in February 1805, he began farming at the Hawkesbury settlement on land granted to Evans the previous year. This risky business failed during the disastrous flood of March 1806, but Evans remained in occupation until Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson appointed him assistant surveyor at Port Dalrymple in 1809. However, Evans’ services were needed in Sydney and he did not leave to take up this office. In March 1812 he surveyed the shores of Jervis Bay while leading a small party overland on foot to Appin; this journey of two weeks was conducted under most laborious circumstances and resulted in the settlement of the Illawarra district during the drought years that soon followed. Evans’ success probably persuaded Governor Lachlan Macquarie to select him for the task of penetrating the interior of New South Wales. In September...

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