Cadell, Francis (1822 - 1879)

Summary

Francis Cadell in 1853 was one of the first to navigate the Murray River from its mouth to Swan Hill in a steamer. In 1867 he led a South Australian expedition to the Northern Territory to choose a site for the capital and an area for agricultural settlement.

Details

Born Cockenzie, Scotland, 9 February 1822. Died Dutch East Indies, 1879. Arrived Adelaide 1852; made the first successful steam voyage up the Murray 1853; active in navigation of the Murray and its main tributaries 1853-63; formed the River Murray Navigation Co., which ran the "Melbourne" and the "Albury"; company dissolved 1857, but Cadell and a partner continued to run the "Melbourne" and the "Albury" until the "Melbourne" was lost at the Murray mouth 1859; business failed 1861 and "Albury" sold; superintended steam transport on the Waikato river in New Zealand 1864; snagging on the Darling for the New South Wales government 1866; led an expedition appointed by the South Australian government to the Northern Territory to choose a site for the capital and an area for agricultural settlement 1867; whaling, trading and pearling in various areas 1870-79. Commemorated by Cadell Strait in the Northern Territory and by a settlement on the River Murray.

Chronology

1852

Life event - Arrived in Adelaide, South Australia

1853 - 1863

Life event - Navigating the River Murray and its main tributaries

1859

Career position - Member, Exploration Committee of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1859 - 1862

Career position - Member, Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria

Related entries

Archival resources

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

• Francis Cadell - Records, 1846 - 1880, FM 4/1765; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Francis Cadell - Records, 1846 - 1880, M 464; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• Nicholson, John, The incomparable Captain Cadell (East Melbourne: Allen & Unwin, 2004), 307 pp. Details
• Painter, Gwenda, The River Trade: Wool and Steamers (Wahroonga: Turton and Armstrong with Pioneer Settlement Press, 1979). Details

Book Sections

• Mudie, Ian, 'Cadell, Francis (1822-1879)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 324-325. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030300b.htm. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2353585. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/43700610. Details
• 'Cadell, Francis (1822-1879)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-553789. 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_c.html. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_c.html. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.96. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details