Hargrave, Lawrence (1850 - 1915)

Summary

Lawrence Hargrave, early in his career, was an intrepid visitor to New Guinea. After visiting Torres Strait and northern Australia in the late 1860s, in 1872 he joined the unfortunate expedition of the New Guinea Prospecting Company which ended when the ship, Bramble, sank after striking a reef. Hargrave then spent six months with the Chevert Expedition as engineer, followed by a further three months in New Guinea with W. G. Lawes. During this time Hargrave made detailed ethnographic notes and drawings. His last New Guinean excursion was in 1876 with Luigi D'Albertis in the region of the Fly and Strickland Rivers. For five years he was assistant astronomical observer to J. C. Russell at the Sydney Observatory, involved in observing the transit of Mercury and making calculations in relation to double stars. From 1883, having an independent income, Hargrave devoted his time to research in aeronautics and human flight. One of his great inventions was a compressed air engine powered by three rotating cylinders. Another was the box kite, which led to three crucial aeronautical concepts: the cellular box kite wing, the curved wing surface and the thick leading wing edge (aerofoil). His work was pivotal to development of aviation in Europe. Models of his inventions are now in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney.

Details

Chronology

1865

Life event - Arrived in New South Wales

1867

Career event - Apprenticed to engineering workshops, Australasian Steam Navigation Co.

1875

Career position - Engineer, Chevert Expedition

1876

Life event - Exploring with Luigi D'Albertis in the Fly River region, New Guinea

1877

Life event - Elected Member, Royal Society of New South Wales

1878 - 1883

Career position - Assistant astronomical observer, Sydney Observatory

1909

Career position - Vice-President, New South Wales Section, Aerial League of Australia

Related entries

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1865 - 1910, ML MSS 299 and ML MSS 3119; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1910 - 1913, MS Q236; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1914, MS Q216; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1866 - 1915, AJCP M367-372; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1908 - 1915, MS 352; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Powerhouse Museum

• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1866 - 1915, P2756, P3174, P3321; Powerhouse Museum. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• Lawrence Hargrave - Records, 1866 - 1915; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• Adams, Michael, Wind beneath his wings: Lawrence Hargrave at Stanwell Park (Sydney?: M. Adams, 2004), 142 pp. Details
• Grainger, Elena, Hargrave and son; a biography of John Fletcher Hargrave and his son Lawrence Hargrave (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978), 202 pp. Details
• Shaw, W. Hudson and Ruhen, Olaf, Lawrence Hargrave: explorer, inventor and aviation experimenter (Stanmore, N.S.W.: Cassell Australia, 1977), 187 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Inglis, Amirah, 'Hargrave, Lawrence (1850-1915), Aeronautical Pioneer and Inventor' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 9 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 196-198. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090194b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Adams, Michael, 'Lawrence Hargrave: father of powered flight', ASHET News, 9 (1) (2016), 2-4. Details
• Fulton, Graham R., 'Notes on the mammals collected on the Chevert Expedition, to New Guinea, in 1875', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 140 (2018), 1-6. http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/LIN. Details
• Inglis, Amirah, 'Trials of an Inventor in Australia: the Case of Lawrence Hargrave', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 1 (1) (1966), 18-41. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9660110018.htm. Details
• McArthur, I. D., 'A History of Aeronautical Research and Development in Australia', ARL Tech. Memo/App. 21, December, 1969 (1969). Details
• Roughley, T. C., 'Lawrence Hargrave - Australia's pioneer in aviation', Technological gazette of New South Wales, 13 (2) (1923), 87-101. Details
• Roughley, T. C., 'Lawrence Hargrave - Australia's pioneer in aviation, part II', Technological gazette of New South Wales, 14 (1) (1924), 35-47. Details
• Salier, Cecil W., 'Lawrence Hargrave - a prelude to biography', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 15 (3) (1929), 146-88. Details
• Salier, Cecil W., 'Lawrence Hargrave: myth and fact in aeronautical history', Australian quarterly, 12 (1) (1940), 86-91. Details
• Shaw, W. Hudson, 'Lawrence Hargrave - an Appreciation', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 96 (1963), 17-30. Details
• Shaw, W. Hudson, 'Lawrence Hargrave: Fact and Fallacy', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 1 (3) (1968), 45-52. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9680130045.htm. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Pain, Stephanie, 'Flights of Fancy', New Scientist (2001), 44-45. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/26924304. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q522744. Details
• 'Hargrave, Lawrence (18500129-19150714)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1461261. Details
• Naughton, Russell, Lawrence Hargrave, Australian Aviation Pioneer, Monash University, 1999. https://www.crc.gov.au/HTMLDocuments/Documents/PDF/CRC%20directory%20%20-%20Jan%202011%20update%20-%20FINAL.pdf. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_h.html. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Defying Gravity - Lawrence Hargrave' p.45. Details
• Fulton, Graham R., 'A detailed report on the birds collected on the Chevert Expedition to New Guinea, in 1875', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 143 (2021), 9-36. https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/LIN/article/view/15518. Details
• Gibson, R. J., 'Australian aviation - the first 100 years', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 58 (3) (1972), 162-77. Details
• Jolly, Martyn; and de Courcy, Elisa eds, The magic lantern at work: witnessing, persuading, experiencing and connecting (London: Routledge, 2020), 228 pp. Details
• McArthur, Ian, 'Chapter 16: Aeronautical engineering' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 299-318. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details