Edward Hardman

Edward Townley Hardman (born April 6, 1845 in Drogheda in Ireland , † April 30, 1887 in Dublin , ibid) was a geologist who found the first gold fields in Australia.

In addition to his training as a geologist, Hardmann also had a degree in mining . In 1870 he began his work for the Geological Survey of Ireland and was accepted into the Royal Geological Society of Ireland in 1871 and the Chemical Society of London in 1874 .

Hardman was appointed geologist by the Colonial Office of the Government of Western Australia and arrived in Perth in March 1883. Previously, in 1872 the government had put a price of £ 5,000 for the discovery of the first commercially viable goldfield. Phillip Saunders then searched the Ord River in the eastern Kimberley and found gold. the government found Hardman a more suitable expedition leader and in 1884 the Hardman expedition found gold in watercourses, suggesting that gold was to be found. Gold was then found by an expedition on Hall Creek on July 14, 1885. This Charles Hall and John Slattery expedition found gold in various areas that Hardman had reported.

He was also in the Perth area and discovered tin at Greenbushes and reported artesian water in the Perth area.

In October 1885 Hardman moved back to Ireland because the government refused to fund his work. In Ireland, he died in Dublin Hospital at the age of 42, leaving a widow with two children.

Before leaving Western Australia, he filed for the award. The government decided not to pay the award because the conditions had not been met in full. However, Hardman's widow was paid £ 500 and Hall's expedition also received £ 500. Saunders, who was the first to find gold there, received nothing.

Hardman was the author of very important publications on the geology of Ireland, but his work in Australia as the discoverer of the first gold fields in the British colonies is far better known.

Web links

• Phillip E. Playford, Hardman, Edward Townley (1845-1887) , p. 342. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972. Available online . Retrieved July 2, 2009
• Hardman at www.mininghall.com . Retrieved July 2, 2009