sketcher, surveyor and pastoralist, fourth son of Stewart Ryrie and Ann, née Stewart, was born in Scotland in 1812. When his father was appointed to the New South Wales Commissariat in 1825, Ryrie junior accompanied him and his stepmother, Isabella, on board the Triton to Sydney, landing on 28 October. Ryrie senior served as deputy commissary-general in Sydney for several years, after which the family settled on a property in the Monaro district of New South Wales (now ACT). Ryrie junior married Janet Mackenzie on 26 April 1845 and remained in the Monaro district until his death on 16 October 1882.
In a letter dated 2 December 1839 Deputy Surveyor-General S.A. Perry asked Ryrie to travel into the Snowy Mountains region to make a 'comprehensive examination of country which has not yet come under regular survey’. Ryrie made four such journeys during which he drew crude topographical views of the mountain ranges, some in ink but most in pencil (ML). On 15 February 1840, he crossed the Crackenback River and climbed the Rams Head Range to the point where Kosciusko Chalet stands today. There, he recorded in his diary, 'on gaining the summit saw one of the highest points covered with snow to be distant to North West about three or four miles, but finding it too late to reach that point, turned S.W.’. Thus Ryrie missed climbing to Australia’s highest point on the very day Count Strzelecki claimed he had ascended and named Mount Kosciusko.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
