Allan Davidson

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Allan A. Davidson (born January 26, 1873 at Harrow in Victoria , Australia , † January 7, 1930 in London , England ) was an explorer with geological knowledge and prospector in Australia who explored the Tanami Desert. He was a great explorer who is relatively unknown in Australia.

Early life

Little is known about Allan Davidson's early life. He studied metallurgy and mining in Adelaide . He then worked as a prospector and manager of a gold mining company from England in Kalgoorlie , where he met his future wife Charlotte Beeston.

Australia

At the age of 24, Allan Davidson became chairman of the Central Australian Exploration Syndicate , which had the right to prospect for rare ore deposits on approximately 28,490 km² of land in the Northern Territory .

Davidson traveled on behalf of this syndicate in November 1897 by rail to Oodnadatta and from there on horseback to Alice Springs , where he put together his first expedition. It consisted of four men, two prospectors, a camel driver and three Aborigines , nine camels, five horses, as well as equipment and provisions for six months. Another 30 camels were used to set up a depot between Devil's Marbles and Tennant Creek . Over the next two years, he explored the unexplored land east of the Trans-Australian Telegraph Line .

The results of this expedition were of little economic interest, but his description of the landscape made subsequent exploration easier. After his return to Adelaide he was summoned by the Syndicate to report to London and commissioned with a second expedition. He should discover gold deposits that could be mined economically. Only four other members accompanied Davidson on this expedition, including his 53-year-old father and an Aboriginal named Jack. Nine camels carried equipment and drinking water for 17 days. The expedition started about 55 kilometers from Tennant Creek .

The Tanami Desert got its name from Allan Davidson. On November 9, 1900, the expedition found two rock caves in which clear drinking water had collected. In the Aboriginal language these were called Tamami, which means never died . Davidson later adopted this name for the desert. He also found evidence of gold bearing rocks in the area he called The Granites . There was enough water there for panning for gold, but not enough drinking water. Davidson named Mount Davidson after his father James Davidson. A gold rush did not occur until 1909, when numerous prospectors invaded the area. After the unsuccessful second expedition, the syndicate that had invested £ 10,000 in the expeditions was liquidated.

Today, the Granites area is home to the second largest gold mine in Australia.

Europe and West Africa

Upon returning to Adelaide, Davidson left Australia and went to Europe and West Africa . There he spent the rest of his life on the Gold Coast of West Africa , in Chile and Nigeria with occasional visits to London. On a return trip from Nigeria, his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine. Davidson survived. He only returned to Australia once when his sick wife visited relatives. Davidson died in London on January 7, 1930 at the age of 57.

Afterlife

Davidson's diaries were published in 1905 in South Australian Parliamentary Paper No. 27 published with colored topographical and geological mappings. In 2005 a small, limited new edition appeared. After Davidson is a street in Alice Springs; named a street and park in Tennant Creek.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jacqueline Shandley: The man who found gold in Tanami. A family remembers the explorer Central Australia forgot , p. 4, of September 26, 2000. In: Centralian Advocate , in English
  2. ↑ a b c d heritageaustralia.com.au ( Memento from April 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 406 kB): Valmai Hankel: Allan Davidson, prospector in the Central Desert , in English, accessed on March 4, 2013
  3. ↑ trove.nla.gov.au : Michael Terry: Allan A. Davidson. Explorer and Metallurgist , January 11, 1930, in English, accessed April 3, 2013
  4. ↑ trove.nla.gov.au : Central Australia. To Explorers Discoveries , November 5, 1900, accessed April 3, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Davidson, Allan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davidson, Allan A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Explorers in Australia, Chile and West Africa
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Harrow , Victoria , Australia
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1930
Place of death London , UK