The Australian Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane commissions Hamilton Hume and former Royal Navy Captain William Hovell to lead an expedition to find new grazing land in the south of the colony, and also to find an answer to the mystery of where New South Wales' western rivers flow.

Over sixteen weeks in 1824–25, Hume and Hovell journey to Port Phillip and back.

They make many important discoveries including the Murray River (which they name the Hume), many of its tributaries, and good agricultural and grazing lands between Gunning, New South Wales and Corio Bay, Port Phillip.