Francis Cadell (explorer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Scottish artist, see Francis Cadell (artist).
Francis Cadell (born 1822 in Cockenzie, died 1879) was a European explorer of Australia.
Originally, Cadell's reason for going to Australia was to find gold. In 1852 he built a canoe, and set off to explore the Murray River, becoming the first European to travel the whole length of the river. In 1867 he led an expedition into the Northern Territory, where he became involved in whaling, trading, and pearling. He was shot by one of his crew in 1879 on a pearling boat. A model of his canoe is in Prestongrange museum.
Cadell was the son of Hew Francis Cadell, and was born in Scotland in 1822. He was educated at Edinburgh and in Germany, and became a midshipman on an East Indiaman. He fought in the Chinese war of 1840 and afterwards was given a ship by his father. He went to South America, had experience of river navigation on the Amazon River, and visited Australia in 1849.
Contents |
[edit] Steaming on the Murray River
He returned to Australia in 1852 and became interested in the navigation of the Murray. In 1850 the South Australian government had offered a bonus of £4000 to the owners of the first two steamers that should successfully navigate the Murray to the junction of the Darling River. Cadell gave orders for the construction of a steamer in Sydney and, while it was being built, explored the Murray in a canvas boat, in which, with four men, he travelled 1300 miles. In June 1853 his steamer the Lady Augusta successfully passed through the breakers at the mouth of the Murray, and on 28 August left Goolwa, South Australia on a voyage up the Murray with Cadell in command. Among the passengers were the governor, Sir Henry Young and Lady Young. They returned on 14 October having reached a point 1500 miles up the river.
A few months later it was ascertained that the Murray was navigable as far as Albury, New South Wales and the Murrumbidgee River navigable to Gundagai. Cadell had carried a considerable quantity of wool and much trade was expected with the Riverina squatters. A gold and silver candelabrum was presented by the settlers to Cadell, with an inscription that it had been presented to him "in cornmemoration of his first having opened the steam navigation and commerce of the River Murray 1853". This was not quite accurate as J. G. and W. R. Randell had constructed an earlier steamer which had traded on the Murray as early as March 1853. It was, however, a much smaller vessel and not eligible for the bonus offered by the government. Cadell was also presented with a gold medal struck by the legislative council, and he joined with others in forming the River Murray Navigating Company. The establishment of inland customs houses and the refusal of the three colonies to join in the snagging of the river, created difficulties for the company, and the failure of Port Elliot as a harbour led to more than one steamer being lost. The company which had at first made good profits failed and Cadell lost everything he had. He went to Victoria, did exploring work in eastern Gippsland, and in 1865 was in New Zealand in the employ of the New Zealand government.
[edit] Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria
While in Victoria, Cadell was a member of the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria which organised the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860. Cadell offered to transport the expedition's equipment by steamer to the value of £500 for free. However his opposition to the appointment of Robert O'Hara Burke to the post of expedition leader meant Burke refused Cadell's offer and transported the stores overland by instead, a decision that slowed the progress of the expedition considerably.
[edit] 1867 Expedition to Northern Australia
In February 1867 the South Australian government sent Cadell to the Northern Territory "to fix upon a proper site for the survey of 300,000 acres [1,200 km²]". His selection of a site on the Liverpool River was much criticized at the time, and was eventually rejected. He had been able to give the authorities much valuable information about the country, but the climate of the territory and its great distance from other centres of population made its development a problem which had not been solved more than half a century after his visit. Cadell then took up trading in the East Indies, and when sailing to the Kei Islands near New Guinea he was murdered by a member of his crew, about March 1879.
[edit] External links
- The Cadells of Grange and Cockenzie
- Serle, Percival. (1949). "Cadell, Francis". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.
