Person

Tietkens, William Henry (1844 - 1933)

Born
30 August 1844
Ball's Pond, Islington, England
Died
19 April 1933
Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Explorer and Naturalist

Summary

William Tietkens was an explorer and surveyor who participated in three significant exploring expeditions in Central Australia. On arriving in Victoria he worked for several years in the Castlemaine region and for the Hobson's Bay Railway in Melbourne. He had a long association with explorer Ernest Giles, initially in 1865 assessing the pastoral potential of the upper Darling River. Tietkens was second-in-command to Giles for the latter's second (1873) and fourth (1875 - 1876) expeditions in Central Australia. This last was a successful crossing from South Australia to Western Australia and back. After attempting to open country in outback South Australia for pastoral settlement, Tietkens turned to surveying in New South Wales. In 1889 he led an exploration in Central Australia, leaving Alice Springs in March and arriving in Charlotte Waters in July. Results of this trip included definition of the western borders of Lake Amadeus; the first photographs of Ayers Rock and Mt Olga; and significant natural history and geological specimens. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. The National Herbarium of Victoria holds approximately 250 on Tietkens' plant specimens.

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Details

Chronology

1859
Life event - Arrived in Australia
1873
Career position - Second-in-command on Ernest Giles's second exploration in Central Australia
1875 - 1876
Career position - Second-in-command on Ernest Giles's fourth exploration in Central Australia
1878
Education - Licensed Surveyors' examination in South Australia
1888
Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1889
Career position - Leader of exploring expedition in Lake Amadeus district
1889 - 1933
Award - Fellow, Royal Geographical Society, London
1891 - 1909
Career position - Surveyor, New South Wales Department of Lands
1900
Career position - President, Section E (Geography), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1909
Life event - Retired

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

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

  • William Henry Tietkens - Records, 1923 - 1933; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • William Henry Tietkens - Records, 1859 - 1951, ML MSS 1352; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • William Henry Tietkens - Records, 1883 - 1909, A36-A39; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • William Henry Tietkens - Records, 1927, ML DOC 2941; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

  • William Henry Tietkens - Records, 1864 - 1889, MS 8770; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Tietkens, W. H., Journal of the Central Australian Exploring Expedition, 1889, under command of W.H. Tietkens, despatched by the Central Australian Exploring and Prospecting Association, Limited, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1891), 84 pp. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/60481. Details

Book Sections

  • Hartwig, Mervyn, 'Tietkens, William Harry (1844-1933), surveyor, prospector and explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 275-276. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060295b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Mueller, F. von and Tate, R., 'List of plants collected during Mr Tietkens' expedition into Central Australia, 1889', Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, 13 (1890), 94-109. Details
  • Tietkens, William Henry, 'Experiences in the life of an Australian explorer', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 5 (2) (1919), 45-74. Details

Resources

See also

  • Fagg, Murray, 'Tietkens, William Henry (1844 - 1933)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://anbg.gov.au/biography/tietkens-william-henry.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
  • 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
  • Young, J., 'Recent Journey of Exploration Across the Continent of Australia', Journal of the American Geographical Society, 10 (1878), 116-41. Details

Gavan McCarthy and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 17 October 2024

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