David, Tannatt William Edgeworth (1858 - 1934)

Summary

Edgeworth David was one of Australia's foremost geologists. After arriving in Australia in 1882 to take up the position of Assistant Geological Surveyor for the Geological Survey of New South Wales, he was Professor of Geology at the University of Sydney for 35 years from 1891. His geological interests were varied and included coal deposits, glaciation and the subsidence of coral reefs. In 1907 to 1909 he participated in the second British Antarctic Expedition and led the first party to reach the south magnetic pole. During WWI he played a key role on the formation of the Australian Mining Corps and served with the Corps. David was active in scientific organisations, being president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science; president of both the Royal and Linnean Societies of New South Wales, and the first President of the Australian National Research Council.

David has been commemorated in a number of ways including the Edgeworth David Medal (awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales since 1948), the mineral Davidite, and the Edgeworth David Base, a summer station in Antarctica.

Details

Chronology

1880

Education - Bachelor of Arts, (BA (hons)), University of Oxford

1882

Life event - Settled in Australia

1882 - 1891

Career position - Assistant Government Geologist, New South Wales

1888 -

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1891 - 1924

Career position - Professor of Geology, University of Sydney

1892

Career position - President, Section C (Geology and Mineralogy), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting, Hobart

1893 - 1895

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1895

Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales

1895

Career position - President, Section C (Geology and Mineralogy), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting, Brisbane

1899

Award - Bigsby Medal, Geological Society of London

1900 - 1934

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1902 - 1904

Career position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1907 - 1909

Career position - Member, second British Antarctic Expedition

1909

Award - Polar Medal: Silver 1907-09 (Chief Scientific Officer - Shackleton's 'Nimrod's' Furthest South Expedition)

1909

Award - Mueller Medal, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

22 May 1909

Award - Honorary Member, Northern Engineering Institute of New South Wales

1910

Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), honoris causa, University of Oxford

1910

Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales

1910

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) - Professor of Geology at Sydney University

1911 - 1913

Career position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1914

Career position - Vice-President, Sections C (Geology) and E (Geography), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting

1915

Award - Wollaston Medal, Geological Society of London

1915 - 1919

Military service - First World War, Major (later Lt Colonel), Australian Mining Corps

1917

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1918

Award - Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) AIF - engineers

1919 -

Career position - Foundation Councillor (Geology), Australian National Research Council

1920

Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for services during the war

1921 - 1922

Career position - President, Australian National Research Council

1923

Award - R. M. Johnston Memorial Medal, Royal Society of Tasmania

1926

Award - Patron's Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society, London

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 1907 - 1933, MS 005; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

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

• Arthur Wilberforce Jose - Records, 1919 - 1925, A7273; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Baldwin Spencer - Records, 1880 - 1929, ML MSS 29; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 1912 - 1950; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 1907 - 1909, MS 12213; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details
• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 16 February 1931, M5043; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details
• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 1938, MS 9456; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

University of Sydney, Archives

• Tannatt William Edgeworth David - Records, 1870 - 1963, P 11; University of Sydney, Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Edgeworth David Day, Symposium, Geological Mapping of Two Southern Continents: the Geological Mapping of Australia - from David to 1:50000; the Geology of Antarctica - Exploration to Exploitation? (Sydney: Edgeworth David Society, 1988), 156 pp. Details
• BRANAGAN, David, T.W. Edgeworth David: a Life (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2005), 648 pp. Details
• Branagan, David, T. W. Edgeworth David: a Life (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2005), 648 pp. Details
• Carey, S. Warren, Sir Edgeworth David Memorial Oration: Knight Errant of Science (Melbourne: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1990), 74 pp. Details
• David, M. E., Professor David. The Life of Sir Edgeworth David, KBE, DSO, FRS (London: Arnold, 1937). Details
• David, T. W. E., University Science Teaching. in University of Sydney Record of Jubilee Celebrations (Sydney: W. Brooks & Co, 1903). Details
• Hobbs, W.H., Explorers of the Antarctic. "David. Discoverer of the South Magnetic Pole". (New York: House of Field, 1941), 47-123 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Branagan, D. F., 'Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, 1858-1934' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
• Oldroyd, David R., 'Griffith Taylor, Ernest Andrews et al: Early Ideas on the Development of the River Systems of the Sydney Region, Eastern Australia, and Subsequent Ideas on the Associated Geomorphological Problems' in History of Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology, Grapes, R. H., Oldroyd, D. R. and Grigelis, A., eds (London: Geological Society, 2008), pp. 241-77. Details
• Vallance, T. G.; Branagan, D. F., 'David, Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth (1858-1934), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 218-221. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080242b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Branagan, D. F., 'David's Early Work, and his Predecessors', in Edgeworth David Day Symposium: Geological Mapping of Two Southern Continents: the Geological Mapping of Australia - From David to 1:50000; the Geology of Antarctica-Exploration to Exploitation? edited by D. F. Branagan; G. S. Gibbons and K. S. Williams (Sydney: Edgeworth David Society, 1988), pp. 5-10.. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon. [J.M.R.], 'Professor David.', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (1934), 313. Details
• Branagan, D., 'Putting Geology on the Map: Edgeworth David and the Geology of the Commonwealth of Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (2) (1981), 30-57. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9810520030. Details
• Branagan, David, 'Seeking Edgeworth David, Knight in the Old Brown Hat', National Library of Australia News, 9 (11) (1999), 7-11. Details
• Branagan, David F., 'Edgeworth David's Try - Real or Imagined', Record (The University of Sydney Archives), 2011 (2011), 18024. Details
• Browne, W. R., 'Sir Edgeworth David, 1858-1934', The Sydney University Gazette, 1 (1958), 214-216. Details
• Cooper, Barry J., '"Snowball Earth": the Early Contribution from South Australia', Earth Sciences History, 29 (2010), 121-45. Details
• Corney, B.G.; and David, T.W.E, 'Note on the Edible Earth from Fiji', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 33 (1899), 224-227. Details
• David, T. W. E., 'Archibald Liversidge', Journal of the Chemical Society (1938), 589. Details
• David, T. W. Edgeworth, 'Origin of the laterite in the New England District of New South Wales', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 233-241, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813323. Details
• David, T. W. Edgeworth, 'Micropetrographical notes on some of the hydrothermal rocks of New South Wales [Abstract]', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 290-291, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813380. Details
• David, T. W. Edgeworth, 'Cuperiferous tuffs of the passage beds between the Triassic Hawkesbury series, and the Permo-Carboniferous coal-measures of New South Wales', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 275-290, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813365. Details
• David, T. W. Edgeworth, 'The Imperial Geophysical Experimental Survey', Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 4 (107-18) (1931). Details
• David, T.W. Edgeworth, 'Note on the Origin of "Kerosene Shale"', The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (1889), 483-500. Details
• Gale, S. J., 'Edgeworth David and Australian geography', Australian geographical studies, 37 (1999), 73-7. Details
• H. J. C. [ie Herbert J. Carter] and W. R. B. [ie William R. Browne], 'Tannatt William Edgeworth David, 1858 - 1934 (Memorial series, no. 6)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 61 (5/6) (1936), 341-57. Details
• Macleod, Roy and Branagan, David, 'The Architect and the Statesman: Archibald Liversidge, Edgeworth David and the Spirit of Science in Sydney, 1874-1934', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 143 (3/4) (2010), 3-17. Details
• Mawson, D., 'Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David, 1858 - 1934', Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1 (4) (1935), 493-501. Details
• Mawson, Douglas, 'Water-power resources in Australasia', Commonwealth Engineer, 6 (6) (1919), 181. Details
• Mawson, Douglas, 'Sir Tannatt William Edgworth David 1858 - 1934 1(4):493-501', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1 (4) (1935), 493-501, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1935.0012. Details
• Passmore, Virginia, 'The contributions of Edgeworth David in the first World War', Newsletter, Earth Sciences History Group, 45 (2018), 25-9. Details
• Priestley, R. E., 'Sir Edgeworth David', Australian Quarterly, 10 (2) (1938), 34-39. Details
• Quilty, Patrick G., 'Laying the foundation: Early Australian Earth Scientists in the Antarctic, Part 1', TAG: Geological Society of Australia Newsletter, 160 (2011), 24-6. Details
• W.R.B.; and H.J.C., 'Tannant William Edgeworth David, 1848-1934.', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, lxi (1936), 341-357. Details
• Warner, R. F., 'An intimate history of leadership: Sydney University's Department of Geography, 1921 - 1997', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 144 (2022), 255-70, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/LIN/article/view/17116. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q498915. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/62331322. Details
• Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society [Online resource], Royal Society of London, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1935.0012. Details
• CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, 'NAA: B2455, David T W E', B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=3490152. Details
• Geological Society of Australia, Australian geology hall of fame, Earth Sciences History Group, Geological Society of Australia, 2022. https://www.gsa.org.au/Public/Public/Specialist_Groups/ESHG_Sub_Pages/ESHG_Biographies.aspx?hkey=1bfc25ca-efd5-4f91-9536-dabf175139ce. Details
• 'David, T W Edgeworth (1858-1934)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1288849. Details

Resource Sections

• 'David, Tannatt William Edgeworth - Ms 5', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms005.html. Details
• 'David, Tannant William Edgeworth', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000349p.htm. Details

Reviews

• Branagan, David, T. W. Edgeworth David: a Life (2005)
  Macleod, Roy, Historical Records of Australian Science, 17 (1), (2006), 115-117, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR06003. Details
• Branagan, David, T. W. Edgeworth David: a Life (2005)
  Thompson, John, Australian Book Review, 277, (2005), 51. Details

See also

• Allen, Jim, 'The curious history of the Talgai skull', Bulletin of the history of archaeology, 20 (20) (2010), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5334/bha.20202. Details
• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_d.html. Details
• Chester, Jonathan, Going to extremes: Project Blizzard and Australia's Antarctic heritage (Sydney: Auckland: Doubleday Australia, 1986), 308 pp. Details
• Lugg, Desmond and Ayton, Jeff, 'In the Footsteps of McLean, Jones and Whetter: 100 Years of Australian Antarctic Medical Practice', Australian Antarctic Magazine, 22 (2012), 36-9. Details
• Mawer, Granville Allen, South by Northwest: the Magnetic Crusade and the Contest for Antarctica (Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2006), 319 pp. Details
• Palmer, Vance, National portraits (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1960), 230 pp. Details
• Priestley, Rebecca, Dispatches from continent seven: an anthology of Antarctic science (Wellington, New Zealand: Awa Press, 2016), 422 pp. Details
• Rix, Alan, 'The Dunstan deals: how some geological treasures left Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 132 (2023), 41-58, https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2023.3. Details
• Rutledge, Martha, 'Leverrier, Francis Hewitt (Frank) (1863 - 1940), barrister,' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 80-81. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leverrier-francis-hewitt-frank-7177. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• White, F. W.G., 'Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978)', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (1) (1980), 68-102. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9800510068. Details