Frederick Henry Litchfield

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

Biography, work, etc.

Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

Frederick Henry Litchfield, 1864

Frederick Henry Litchfield (born May 27, 1832 in Ghazipur , British India , † March 1, 1867 in Sylhet ) was an Australian cattle farmer, gold digger and explorer. He became known for exploring the Northern Territory in Australia and for his gold finds there. The administrative area Litchfield Municipality south of Darwin and the Litchfield National Park are named after him.

biography

Litchfield was born in 1832 as the eldest son of Charles William Litchfield (1802-1850), a British officer. His grandfather was a surgeon. His mother was called Margaret and was born O'Connor (1808-1834) who died early. His father married Ellen Munro (1818–1908) in India a year later. In 1838 the father left the army and the family emigrated to South Australia . Young Litchfield attended a private school in Adelaide . After his father died, Litchfield was in a difficult financial situation and started as a worker. Lured by the Victorian gold rush , Litchfield tried his hand at gold digging in Melbourne for several years, but without any notable success. He returned to Wellington. In 1859 Litchfield took part in an expedition that was to advance through the center of Australia to the north coast. Alexander Tolmer , Police Inspector of South Australia, ran this company that competed with an expedition led by John McDouall Stuart . Unlike its competitor, Tolmer's company was poorly organized, only reaching the Flinders Ranges, and ending in financial disaster. Therefore Lichtfield did not receive any wages.

In 1864 the government of South Australia commissioned Boyle Finniss , the former Prime Minister of South Australia, to explore the Northern Territory . Litchfield took part in the expeditions and later led them. He explored the Howard River , the later urban area of Darwin , the Adelaide River , the Finniss River and the area around the Daly River . Based on his experience with the Victorian gold rush, he discovered gold in the Finniss River and thus the first gold deposit in the Northern Territory.

In 1866, Litchfield traveled to Bengal in search of plants suitable for growing in the Northern Territory. After 9 months he died under unknown circumstances in Sylhet . He was only 35 years old and had never married.

effect

In his day Litchfield was one of the few Europeans who recognized the Northern Territory's agricultural potential. His gold finds there contributed significantly to the gold rush in the 1870s, which was of great importance for the development of the region.