Person

Giles, William Ernest Powell (Ernest) (1835 - 1897)

Born
20 July 1835
Bristol, England
Died
13 November 1897
Coolgardie, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Explorer

Summary

Ernest Giles was an explorer who travelled through western New South Wales from 1861 to 1865 (to assess its pastoral uses) and across large tracts of central Australia from 1872 to 1876. His first trip to central Australia in 1872 was partly sponsored by Ferdinand Mueller, Victorian Government Botanist. Much to Giles' dismay the party turned back once they reached the inaccessible Missionaries' Plain. Lack of water was one factor in the fate of this and Giles's next two expeditions. During his third attempt to go deeper into the desert, one of his co-explorers died and the Gibson's Desert was named in his memory. Finally in 1875, with camels for transport, Giles achieved his long-term goal of crossing from South Australia (Beltana) to Western Australia (Perth). He took a different route on the return trip and passed through Murchison, the Gibson's Desert and Rawlinson Ranges. On this expedition, William Tietkens was second-in-command, as he had been for the 1873 expedition, while Jess Young was naturalist. Giles eventually returned to Victoria, working as a land classifier then moved to Coolgardie in Western Australia where he was a clerk in the warden's office. Giles published several works detailing his travels across Australia and was made a knight of the crown of Italy and an honorary member of many Continental societies. His biggest award was receiving a Fellowship and Gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society in London. The National Herbarium of Victoria holds over 700 specimens collected by Giles.

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Details

Chronology

1850
Life event - Migrated to Australia (Adelaide)
1852
Career position - Moved to Victoria to work the goldfields
1861 - 1865
Career position - Pastoral land explorations of western New South Wales
1872 - 1874
Career position - Leader of three exploring expeditions in Central Australia
1875 - 1876
Career position - Leader of expedition crossing from South Australia to Western Australia and back
1877
Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus rameliana F. Muell.
1877 - 1879
Career position - Land Classifier in the Western District of Victoria
1880
Award - Fellow and Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society, London
1934
Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus sessilis (Maiden) Blakely

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • Dow, E. B., On the Burke and Wills Track: the Giles inscription (Broken Hill: 1937). Details
  • Giles, Ernest, Geographical Travels in Central Australia from 1872 to 1874 (Melbourne: M'Carron, Bird & Co., 1875), 223 pp. Details
  • Giles, Ernest, Australia twice traversed : the romance of exploration, being a narrative compiled from the journals of five exploring expeditions into and through Central South Australia, and Western Australia, from 1872 to 1876 (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1889). Details
  • Giles, Ernest, Diary of explorations of Mr Ernest Giles on Central Australia 1872 (Adelaide: Sullivan’s Cove, 1986), 116 pp. Details
  • Green, L., Ernest Giles (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1963), 30 pp. Details

Book Sections

Edited Books

  • Giles, Ernest ed., The journal of a forgotten expedition in 1875 (Adelaide: W.K. Thomas &​ Co, 1880), 26 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Green, Louis, 'A Voss among explorers: the career of Ernest Giles', Quadrant, 7 (3) (1963), 17-35. Details
  • Milne, Pina, 'Retracing history through herbarium specimens', Studies in Western Australian history, 35 (2020), 75-87. Details
  • Young, J., 'Recent Journey of Exploration Across the Continent of Australia', Journal of the American Geographical Society, 10 (1878), 116-41. Details

Resources

See also

  • Fagg, Murray, 'Giles, William Ernest Powell (Ernest) (1835 - 1897)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://anbg.gov.au/biography/giles-ernest.html. Details
  • Feeken, Erwin H. J.; Feeken, Gerda E. E.; and Spate, O. H. K., The discovery and exploration of Australia (Melbourne: Thomas Nelson (Australia), 1970), 318 pp. Details

McCarthy, G.J.

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 24 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P000052b.htm

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