Person
Warburton, Peter Egerton (1813 - 1889)
CMG
- Born
- 16 August 1813
Northwich, Cheshire, England - Died
- 5 November 1889
Beaumont, South Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Explorer and Policeman
- Alternative Names
- Egerton-Warburton, Peter (Also known as)
Summary
Peter Warburton arrived in South Australia in 1853 and was appointed Commissioner of Police, a post he held until 1867. Before coming to Australia he served in the Royal Navy and, for over 20 years, in the Indian Army. During his time in the police he made efforts to improve conditions for members of the force, and establish a police presence in frontier districts. Warburton made a number of explorations through the arid regions of Central and South Australia. In 1857 he explored the Gawler Ranges and Lake Gairdner. He was granted £100 by the South Australian Government after finding on his next expedition, around Lake Eyre and south Lake Torrens, what seemed to be good grazing country. Returning to Lake Eyre in 1866 he sought (unsuccessfully) Cooper Creek, but followed what was later called the Warburton River to the Queensland border. Warburton's last expedition left Alice Springs in April 1873, heading west from the overland telegraph line seeking pastoral land. Financial support was provided by Thomas Elder and Walter Hughes. The party included Warburton's son Richard, John Lewis, three cameleers, cook Dennis White, and Indigenous tracker Charley. They crossed the Great Sandy Desert under adverse conditions, reaching the Western Australian coast in January 1874. This expedition resulted in members of the expedition receiving some monetary grant. Warburton was awarded the patron's medal of the Royal Geographical Society, London and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). Plant specimens collected on his inland explorations were send to Ferdinand von Mueller, the Victorian Government Botanist. The National Herbarium of Victoria holds over 500 of Warburton's specimens. In 1874 he made a visit to the United Kingdom, and retired to his property near Adelaide where he had a vineyard. The Warburton Range (Western Australia) and Warburton River (South Australia) were named in his honour, as was the plant genus Warburtonia (Dilleniaceae).
Details
Chronology
- 1831 - 1853
- Military service - Served in India with the Indian Army
- 1853
- Life event - Arrived in Adelaide
- 1853 - 1867
- Career position - Commissioner for Police, South Australia
- 1857
- Event - Explored the Gawler Ranges and Lake Gairdner, South Australia
- 1858
- Event - Explored around Lake Eyre and south Lake Torrens
- 1858
- Award - Elected as an Honorary Member, Adelaide Philosophical Society
- 1866
- Event - Explored from Lake Eyre to the Queensland border
- March 1869 - 1877
- Career position - Chief Staff Officer and Colonel, Volunteer Military Force, South Australia
- 1873 - 1874
- Career event - Lead the expedition which crossed the Great Sandy Desert
- 1874
- Award - Patron's Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society, London
- 1875
- Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)
- 1885 - 1889
- Career position - Foundation Member, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch
Related entries
Archival resources
Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science
- Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana
- Peter Egerton Warburton - Records, 1857 - 1880, PRG 196; State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana. Details
Published resources
Books
- Threadgill, Bessie, South Australian land exploration, 1856 to 1880, 2 vols (Adelaide: Board of Governors of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of South Australi, 1922). Details
- Warburton, Peter Egerton, Journey across the western interior of Australia; with an introduction and additions by Charles H. Eden (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1875), 307 & 40 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Deasey, Denison, 'Warburton, Peter Egerton (1813-1889), explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 350-351. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060376b.htm. Details
Journal Articles
- Black, E. C., 'The Lake Torrens Hoodoo', Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia, 64 (1963). Details
Parliamentary papers
- South Australia. Parliament, Northern exploration: reports, etc., of explorations into the interior by Messrs. Babbage, Warburton, Geharty and Parry (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1858), 51 pp. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1399201. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/76618158. Details
- 'Warburton, Peter Egerton (1813-1889)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-541284. Details
See also
- 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
- 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
- Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 4 November 2024
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education