Biographical entry 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.

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

• Painter, Gwenda, The River Trade: Wool and Steamers, Turton and Armstrong with Pioneer Settlement Press, Wahroonga, 1979. Details

Book Sections

• Mudie, Ian, 'Cadell, Francis (1822-1879)', in Douglas Pike (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 3, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 324-325. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030300b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Cadell, Francis', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://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/scripts/tia-dynindex.php3?EID=P000286. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/scripts/smv-dynindex.php3?EID=P000286. Details