Hume set out with William Hovell to travel overland from Appin to the south coast. They reached Corio Bay having discovered the Australian Alps and many rivers including the Tumut, Murray, Ovens and Goulburn. Their expedition not only corrected Oxley's misconception of inhospitable southerly lands but also laid the groundwork for later expeditions by Charles Sturt and Thomas Mitchell.

William Bland persuaded Hovell to allow publication of his field book and in 1831 a preliminary, unpublished printing was made. The present 1837 edition, edited by Bland, represents the first general publication of Hovell's account. Hume's own account of their original expedition was published for the first time in 1855.

"The Bland edition of Hovell’s journal has a place in every inland exploration collection. Unfortunately, even the ‘second edition’ [i.e. this first published edition] is of such rarity that all but a few collectors must be content without a copy” (Wantrup).