Person

Gosse, William Christie (1842 - 1881)

Born
11 December 1842
Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, England
Died
12 August 1881
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Occupation
Explorer and Surveyor

Summary

William Gosse was the first European to discover Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock). This find was made during a South Australian government-backed exploration to find a crossing between Alice Springs and Perth. His party had to turn back before reaching Perth, but still managed to open up and map over 60,000 square miles of previously uncharted land. Prior to this trip, Gosse worked for the surveyor-general's office surveying the far north and south-eastern districts of South Australia.

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Details

Chronology

1850
Life event - Migrated to Australia (Adelaide) with family
1859 - 1874
Career position - Surveyor in the Surveyor-General's Office of South Australia
1872 - 1873
Career position - Leader of an expedition from Alice Springs to Perth
1873
Career position - Discovered and named Ayers Rock
1875 - 1881
Career position - Deputy Surveyor-General for South Australia

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

Resources

See also

  • Nettelbeck, Amanda (and others), The Overland Telegraph Line: A Transcultural History, [web resource; undated], South Australian Government, South Australia, 2023. https://otlhistory.sa.gov.au/. Details

Annette Alafaci

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 5 February 2018

EOAS ID: biogs/P000050b.htm

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260