Person
Wells, Lawrence Allen (1860 - 1938)
OBE
- Born
- 30 April 1860
Yallum Park, South Australia, Australia - Died
- 11 May 1938
Blackwood, South Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Explorer and Surveyor
Summary
Lawrence Wells was a surveyor and explorer who, for much of his career, was employed by the South Australian Surveyor General's Department and its successor, the Lands and Survey Department. Among the surveys in which he was involved were the Queensland and Northern Territory Border Survey (1883 - 1886) and the trigonometric survey of the Victoria River district 1908). Between 1918 and 1930 he was Chairman of the Department's Land Board. Wells was an experiences explorer of the inland areas of Australia. He was surveyor on the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition in 1891 and, a few years later, of the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition. Other expeditions of which he was leader included the North West Prospecting Expedition (1903) and the Endeavour Expedition to the Great Sandy Desert (1932).
Details
Chronology
- 1878
- Life event - Joined the South Australian Survey Department
- 1879 - ?
- Career position - Cadet, South Australian Survey Department
- 1883 - 1886
- Career position - Member, Northern Territory and Queensland Border Survey
- May 1891 - January 1892
- Career position - Surveyor, Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition
- 1896
- Career position - Leader, Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition
- 1897 -
- Career position - Member, South Australian Pastoral Board
- 1903
- Career position - Leader, North-West Prospecting Expedition
- 1908
- Career position - Surveyor, Trigonometric Survey, Victoria River district, Northern Territory
- 1918 - 1930
- Career position - Chairman, South Australian Land Board
- 1932
- Career position - Leader, Endeavour Expedition, Great Sandy Desert
- 1937
- Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Steele, Wilfred and Steele, Christopher, To the great Gulf: the surveys and explorations of L. A. Wells, last Australian explorer 1860 - 1938 (Blackwood, S.A.: Lynton Publications, 1978), 144 pp. Details
- Wells, L., Journal of the Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1896-7 : equipped at the request and expense of Albert F. Calvert, Esq., F.R.G.S., London for the purpose of exploring the remaining blanks of Australia (Perth: Government Printer, 1902), 62 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Steele, Christopher, 'Wells, Lawrence Allen (1860-1938), explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 440-441. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120491b.htm. Details
Edited Books
- Hill, J. G. ed., The Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition (London: George Philip & Son, 1905), 44 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Wells, L. A., 'Abstract of journal of explorations in Western Australia, 1896 - 1897', Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch, 3 (1898), 149-71. Details
Newspaper Articles
- Anon., 'The Calvert Exploring Expedition (illustrated)', Leader (Melbourne) (1896), 7-8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198013202. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6504730. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/38212940. Details
- 'Wells, L A (1860-1938)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-613766. 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
Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 22 October 2024