Eric Hancock presents : Charles Cook Hunt - His 1860's explorations - Tracks and Wells 500km and Routes from York to Eastern Goldfields 1888-1896

A must for anyone interested in the fascinating and intriguing history of York and its connections to the Goldfields in the 1800s. 

Charles Cook Hunt was a thorough surveyor and excellent draftsman, who never named discoveries after himself. Forrest was reputed to say, 'Will I ever find a place where this man has not been before me'

In 1864 with Governor John Hampton and the York Agricultural Society as patrons he was sent to explore the country 300 miles (483 km) east of York. Hunt named Hampton Plains and traversed much potential grazing land. In 1865 he set out again, intending to clear a track for sheep and cattle and to sink wells along the route, but severe drought forced him back with some wild dogs he had captured to the dismay of local settlers. However, he blazed a tree at a place later named White Hope where gold was discovered in 1919. In 1965 the Eastern Goldfields branch of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society planted a Kurrajong and raised an obelisk with a plaque near the site of Hunt's marked tree. Sir John Kirwan later claimed that rumours in 1865 had Hunt discovering gold but that the government suppressed the news.

In 1866 Hunt was a road surveyor in the Northam district and then returned to the country east of York intent on deepening the wells he had sunk. He was accompanied by four white men and by Tommy Windich (Winditj), an Aboriginal (Noongar) man who later assisted (Sir) John Forrest. Hunt pressed on clearing and sinking wells until he was driven back by ophthalmia and sickness.