Sir Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General of NSW from 1828, led significant expeditions which resulted in charting the 'Nine Counties of NSW'. He was loyal and encouraging to his parties, yet his Governors found him a difficult man and he had little tolerance for explorers. At the commemoration of the restoration of his grave, Mitchell's favourite phrase, still in family use, was revealed: "Leichhardt couldn't find his way up York Street".

Mitchell was so well-respected that he had one of the largest funerals in Sydney, extending from his home at Carthona, Darling Point, to the Cemetery. His grave bears the emblems of the bay laurel (honour), the sword and the quill. The Major Mitchell Cockatoo and the (previous) Mitchell College (now Charles Sturt University) and Sir Thomas Mitchell Street in Bondi are named after him.

For more information on Sir Thomas Mitchell go to:

1. http://davidreilly.com/australian_explorers/mitchell/mitchell.html
2. http://www.wilmap.com.au/mitchell.html
3. http://www.convicttrail.org/ctp/gnr/mitchell.html