Event

Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition (1891 - 1892)

From
May 1891
South Australia, Australia
To
January 1892
Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia
Functions
Australian inland exploration

Summary

The Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, the purpose of which was to map the last unexplored areas of southwestern Australia, was an initiative of the South Australian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. Sir Thomas Elder, pastoralist and philanthropist, funded the whole Expedition which was under the leadership of David Lindsay. Starting from Warrina, South Australia, in May 1891, the Expedition crossed into Western Australia in July and ultimately dispersed in the Murchison Region when several members left the team. Lindsay reached Geraldton, Western Australia, in January 1892. Results of the Expedition were disappointing, largely because of the exceptionally dry season. However, approximately 6,400 km were traversed and mapped. Most of the Expedition's botanical specimens are in the South Australian Herbarium. The scientific results of the Expedition were published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia volume 16 (1892-6).

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Published resources

Books

  • Lindsay, David, Journal of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1891-2 (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1893), 207 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'Some early Australian plant collections : Robert Helms and the Elder Expedition collection', Australasian herbarium news, 7 (1951), 10-14. Details
  • Helms, R., 'Anthropology of the Elder Expedition, 1891 - 1892', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 16 (1896), 237-332. Details
  • Lucas, A. M.; and Home, R. W., 'Misleading labels: Richard Helms and the Elder Exploring Expedition', Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, 174 (2018), 14-8. Details
  • Peake-Jones, K., 'The Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition, 1891: a study of incompatibles', Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch, 85 (1985), 54-66. Details
  • Stirling, E. C.; and Zeitz, A., 'Vertebrata [of the Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition]', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 16 (1893), 154-76. 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

Helen Cohn

Created: 21 January 2020, Last modified: 9 August 2023

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