Cecil Madigan

Portrait of Cecil Madigan with frostbite on Adelie Land during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1913)

Cecil Thomas Madigan (born October 15, 1889 in Renmark , South Australia , Australia , † January 14, 1947 in Adelaide , South Australia) was an Australian explorer, geographer and geologist .

Madigan used the latest communication and transport methods on his expeditions and became an authority on Australian geology and geography through his scientific work, in particular on the MacDonnell Ranges , the Simpson Desert and Lake Eyre .

Early years

Cecil Madigan was the son of Thomas Madigan and Mary Dixie, née Finey. Cecil Madigan had a younger brother and two sisters. After his father died in the gold fields near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia , his mother had to work as a teacher to feed the children. Madigan went to school in Adelaide before studying mining engineering at Adelaide University . He later received a scholarship to the South Australian School of Mines and Industry .

On August 20, 1915, he married Wynnis Knight Wollaston in Adelaide with whom he had three sons and two daughters.

Antarctic expedition

From 1911 Madigan studied in England and was selected by the polar explorer Sir Douglas Mawson to be the meteorologist for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition . He was on friendly terms with him all his life. Madigan was also involved in various expeditions across the inland ice in the Antarctic during this time . One took him to Adélieland , another in the summer of 1912-13 to Georg-V-Land, about 800 kilometers away . He also led the search expedition for the troubled Douglas Mawson. For his achievements during these expeditions he was awarded the King's Polar Medal in 1914. The Madigan Nunatak is also named after him.

War participation

After returning to Oxford after 1914 , he joined the Royal Engineers Company , where he was promoted to captain in 1916 . He fought in France and was wounded. After his recovery, he returned to the war in France in May 1916.

Geological explorations

After the end of the war he graduated from Magdalen College in Oxford with a successful degree in geology. In 1920 he got a job as a geologist at Adelaide University. He held this post until his death.

He explored and explored the interior of the Fleurieu Peninsula . In 1929, the chairman of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia Allan Simpson supported his plan to explore parts of Central Australia and the Northern Territory using aerial photographs. It was the first time that systematic photography over Australia and geological surveys were carried out from airplanes. The Simpson desert was discovered. It was named by Madigan after his patron Allan Simpson.

Fly over the huge Lake Eyre , a salt lake in Central Australia, captured more precisely. The main aim was to determine the size of the water catchment area. For more detailed exploration of the lake, a vehicle exploration was also carried out over the salt lake.

In the mid-1930s, Madigan was exploring the MacDonnell Ranges , James, and Waterhouse Range . In 1932 he reported on the Granites goldfields in central Australia for a Sydney newspaper . Around 1933 he described meteorites and meteorite craters and traveled to the impact sites of the Henbury and Huckitta meteorites and to the Boxhole crater .

In the winter of 1939 Madigan crossed the Simpson Desert with an expedition team from Andado Station in the Northern Territory to Birdsville in Queensland. In the course of the expedition, which was carried out with camels and lasted 25 days, a mobile radio station could be carried for the first time and the Australian public could be continuously informed about the results of the expedition.

In 1940 he began serving as chief instructor at the School of Military Field Engineering in Liverpool , New South Wales , and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He also looked at water resources. In 1943 he left the army and went back to Adelaide University.

personality

Madigan was very open to modern methods in geological research and transportation. He was a member of numerous scientific and other organizations, for example he was a member of the Geological Society of London , President of the Royal Society of South Australia and recipient of the Verco Medal. He also worked in the Boy Scouts' Association from 1934, in the Legacy Club and in the National Co-ordinating Council for Physical Fitness .

In 1962 a cairn was erected in Birdsville to commemorate his crossing of the Simpson Desert .

Publications

• Central Australia . Oxford University Press. Melbourne.
• Crossing the Dead Heart . Georgian House. Melbourne. ISBN 1-876622-16-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} adb.anu.edu.au : LW Parkin: Madigan, Cecil Thomas (1889–1947) , in English, accessed December 4, 2012