Person

Kennedy, Alexander Lorimer (1889 - 1972)

Born
23 April 1889
Woodside, South Australia, Australia
Died
1972
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Antarctic explorer and Magnetic observer

Summary

Alexander Kennedy was still a student at the University of Adelaide when he joined the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Douglas Mawson. He filled the role of magnetician at the Western Base (Queen Mary Land) until February 1913. After serving with the Australian Imperial Force during WWI he was employed at the Adelaide and Mount Stromlo Observatories and as a mining engineer. Kennedy's contribution to Antarctic exploration continued when he joined the British, Australian, New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition in 1930 as magnetician.

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Details

Chronology

1911 - February 1913
Career position - Magnetician, Western Base, Australian Antarctic Expedition
1914
Career position - Magnetic Observer at the Carnegie Institution Washington, USA
1915
Award - Polar Medal (Silver)
1915
Education - Bachelor of Engineering (BE) completed at the University of Adelaide
1916 - 1918
Military service - Australian Tunnelling Corps, Australian Imperial Force
1921 - 1924
Career position - Chief Assistant at the Adelaide Observatory
1924 - 1927
Career position - Assistant at Mount Stromlo Observatory in the Australian Capital Territory
1928 -
Career position - Mining Engineer in Western Australia
1930 - 1931
Career event - Magnetician on British, Australian, New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE)

Related Events

Archival resources

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

  • Edmund Besley Court Kennedy - Records, 1848, A2893 and D330; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Edited Books

  • Riffenburgh, Beau and de Boos, Crispin eds, The Antarctic diaries of Andrew Dougald Watson and Alexander Lorimer Kennedy together with the paintings and drawings of Charles Turnbull Harrison (Norwich, U.K.: Erskine Press, 2018), 382 pp. Details

Newspaper Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Jensen, David, Mawson's remarkable men: the personal stories of the epic 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expediton (Sydeny: Allen and Unwin, 2015), 183 pp. Details
  • Lomb, Nick; and Stevenson, Toner eds, Eclipse chasers (Clayton South, Vic: CSIRO Publishing, 2023), 216 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

Created: 29 June 1995, Last modified: 24 March 2022

EOAS ID: biogs/P002232b.htm

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