Person

Stanley, Owen (1811 - 1850)

FRS

Born
13 June 1811
England
Died
13 March 1850
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Marine surveyor and Naval officer

Summary

Owen Stanley was a naval officer and surveyor who, having joined the Royal Navy in his youth, rose to the rank of Post captain. He spent four years engaged in surveying work in South America, including a period in Adventure under Philip Parker King, and from 1836 to 1837 was responsible for astronomical and magnetic observations in Terror while on the Arctic Expedition under the command of George Back. In 1838, while commanding H.M.S. Britomart, Stanley accompanied the expedition to establish Port Essington, having been made magistrate and Commissioner of Crown Lands for the purpose. He was given command of H.M.S. Rattlesnake in 1846 with orders to continue the surveying work of Francis Blackwood in H.M.S.Fly particularly in relation to a safe passage through the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait. Surveys were made of large areas of northeastern Australian waters, the Arafura Sea, and much of southern New Guinea including the Louisade Islands. Scientists on the expedition were John MacGillivray (naturalist, who had also been in Fly) and Thomas H. Huxley (Assistant Surgeon and Naturalist). While the facilities available to them was not optimal, they nevertheless made considerable collections of natural history specimens, including of marine biota with the aid of improvised tow nets. After Stanley's death, command of the expedition was assumed by Lieutenant Charles Yule, formerly in charge of the accompanying tender Bramble. Stanley is commemorated in the Owen Stanley Range, Papua New Guinea.

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Details

Chronology

1830
Career event - Commissioned as Lieutenant, Royal Navy
1839
Career event - Promoted to Commander, Royal Navy
1842 - 1850
Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
1844
Career event - Promoted to Post Captain, Royal Navy
December 1846 - March 1850
Career position - Commanded H.M.S. Rattlesnake surveying in northeast Australian and New Guinean waters

Related Cultural Objects

Archival resources

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

  • Owen Stanley - Records, 1841 - 1849; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Owen Stanley - Records, 1832 - 1850, FM 4/2127; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Owen Stanley - Records, 1848, ML DOC 1127; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • G. H. Inskip - Records, 1849 - 1950, MS 3784; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
  • James Thomas Stanton - Records, 1849 - 1951, MS 4029; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
  • Owen Stanley - Records, 1832 - 1850, Mfm M463; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
  • William Henry Archer - Records, 1847 - 1866, MS 264; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Bassett, Marnie, Behind the picture: H.M.S. Rattlesnake's New Guinea cruise, 1846 to 1850 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1966), 112 pp. Details
  • Goodman, Jordan, The Rattlesnake: a Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea (London: Faber and Faber, 2005), 357 pp. Details
  • Huxley, J., Thomas Henry Huxley's Diary of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (London: 1935). Details
  • Huxley, T. H.: edited from the unpublished MS by Julian Huxley, T. H. Huxley's diary of the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake (London: Chatto and Windus, 1935), 371 pp. Details
  • Lubbock, Adelaide, Owen Stanley, R.N., 1811 - 1850, captain of the Rattlesnake (Melbourne: London: Heinemann, 1968), 298 pp. Details
  • McKenna, Mark, From the edge: Australia's lost histories (Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press (University of Melbourne Publishing Ltd), 2016), xx, 251 pp. See pages: 81, 95, 97-98, 102. Details
  • Stokes, J. Lort, Discoveries in Australia: with an account of the coasts and rivers explored and surveyed during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the years1837-38-39-40-41-42-43, by command of the Lords Commissioners of the Navy: also, a narrative of captain Owen Stanley's visits to the islands in the Arafura Sea, 2 vols (London: T. and W. Boone, 1846). Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • Beanland, Denver, 'Connections in charting the Great Barrier Reef, 1770 - 1850', Queensland history journal, 24 (3) (2019), 251-67. Details
  • Goodman, Jordan, 'Losing it in New Guinea: the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake', Endeavour, 29 (2005), 60-5. Details
  • Lubbock, Adelaide, 'Owen Stanley in the Pacific', Journal of Pacific history, 3 (1968), 47-63. Details
  • Mellick, Sam A., 'Signal naval achievements of James Lind (1747), James Cook (1770) and Owen Stanley (1847)', ANZ journal of surgery, 79 (12) (2009), 936-40. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1445-2197.2009.05148.x. Details
  • Morgan, Kenneth, 'Navigating the Great Barrier Reef: the inner and outer routes, 1815 - 1860', International journal of maritime history, 31 (1) (2021), 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0843871421991164. Details
  • Moyal, Ann, 'Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake', National Library Magazine, 2012 (June) (2012), 8-11. Details

Resources

Theses

  • Jensen, Sophie Alice, 'On such a full sea: John MacGillivray (1821 - 1867)', PhD thesis, Australian National University, 2010, 339 pp. Details

See also

  • Bowen, James; Bowen, Margarita, The Great Barrier Reef: History, Science, Heritage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 454 pp. Details
  • MacGillivray, John, Narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake: commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S., etc., during the years 1846 - 1850, including discoveries and surveys in New Guinea, the Louisade Archipelago, etc., to which is added the account of Mr E. B. Kennedy's expedition for the exploration of the cape York Peninsula, 2 vols (London: T. & W. Boone, 1852). Details
  • Rice, A. L., British oceanographic vessels 1800 - 1950 (London: Ray Society, 1986), 193 pp. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

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