Charles Monitor

"Sir" Charles Monitor (c.1791 - 1851) was an English-born Australian explorer and naturalist, who comprehensively mapped bushland north of Sydney, discovering and cataloguing many new species. His most significant discovery was that the Goannas of Australia were part of a larger group of lizards present across the globe - the Monitor group.

Biography

Early life

Monitor grew up in England; probably London. After an earlier career and informal study in an unknown discipline, he emigrated to Australia arriving in Sydney in 1835. He was never knighted and his appellation was self-applied.

False Start

Upon arrival in Sydney, Monitor presented himself to the Governor of New South Wales and asked for a commission to lead an expedition inland. The Governor, Sir Richard Bourke, unimpressed with his credentials, did not reject his proposal outright but nonetheless did not grant the commission.

This situation continued for months, during which time Monitor gathered supplies and men for an independent expedition. Governor Bourke was under the impression that Monitor was planning to grant any arable land found over the great dividing range to his followers and set up an independent settlement. Monitor would later deny this in his letters, calling it "pure fiction". In any case, Bourke decided to scuttle the expedition and let it be known that he would not allow it to proceed past Parramatta.

Great Northern Expedition

Frustrated, Monitor scaled back his plans and set out North with a small party. Nonetheless, the party met great challenges in the rugged terrain, making incredibly slow ProgresS. After two weeks, Monitor turned back for lack of supplies and reliable water sources.

Monitor began afresh in the autumn of 1837, this time with an even smaller party. They travelled up to the Hawkesbury and then back via an inland route, mapping extensively. Monitor made many discoveries on this trip and began to develop his theory of lizards. His meticulous cartography work on this trip was later praised for the accuracy with which it placed passes and water points.

Upon his return to Sydney after 18 months "out bush", many were astonished he had survived, having heard no word from him. In Monitor's absence Governor Bourke had been replaced. In typical fashion, Monitor wryly noted in one of his letters that he had "survived a great expedition... and seen the back of Bourke after all!"

Later expeditions and death

Monitor continued his expeditions to the North of Sydney, believing that its many valleys and gullies were of great botanical significance. His discoveries became less frequent however, and in the following years he was unable to replicate the more significant finds of his great expedition. His letters grew increasingly frustrated, talking of his dwindling funds and his belief that he was being tracked while out in the bush.

When Monitor did not return from an expedition in 1851, a search party was sent out after him. They discovered his bloodied body at the bottom of a tall gorge in what is now Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park. The leader of the search party, in his report, mentioned that there were signs of a struggle on the path at the top of the gorge, and a bloody handprint. His theories of a violent death were, however, dismissed by the authorities.

Legacy

Monitor remains a relatively obscure Australian explorer - he never made a great expedition like many of the more famous Australian pioneers. It has been suggested that his bad relationship with the "official" Sydney society of the time, and with Governor Bourke especially, served to push his achievements somewhat to the side.

Several local landmarks in northern Sydney still bear his name, though, for instance, Monitor's Ridge in Berowra.