Cecil Madigan
Cecil Thomas Madigan (15 October 1889 – 14 January 1947) was an Australian explorer and geologist, academic, aerial surveyor, meteorologist, author and officer of the British army. He was born in
Biography
Born to contractor and fruitgrower Thomas Madigan and Mary Dixie (née Finey) a teacher, Cecil Madigan was the oldest of two sons and two daughters. He was raised by his mother as his father had died in the
Throughout the 1930s, Madigan participated in numerous aerial surveys of the "trackless areas" of Central Australia, during which time he named the Simpson Desert after the president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia -- Alfred Allen Simpson.[2][3][4] In 1937 he confirmed that the Boxhole Crater is a meteoric impact crater. In 1939 he led the first major expedition across the Simpson Desert. Although he was not the first to cross the desert, he has become known as the last of the "classic" explorers of central Australia.[5] For many years he worked as a lecturer in geology at the University of Adelaide.
Family
He married Wynnis Knight Wollaston, a native of
Descendants include David Madigan (deceased) and his two children, Sir Russell Madigan (deceased) and his five children, Neith Madigan (deceased) and her four children, Robourne Madigan (deceased), Rosemary Madigan (deceased) and her three children.
He died of Coronary Vascular disease in Adelaide, on 14 January 1947.
See also
- Centre points of Australia
- Boxhole crater
- Huckitta meteorite
Publications
- 1944 - Central Australia. Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
- 1946 - Crossing the Dead Heart. Georgian House: Melbourne. ISBN 1-876622-16-4
- 2012 - Madigan's Account: The Mawson Expedition : the Antarctic Diaries of C.T. Madigan, 1911-1914 Wellington Bridge Press. ISBN 9781921767098
References
- ^ L. W. Parkin, Madigan, Cecil Thomas (1889 - 1947), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 374-376. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
- ^ Madigan, C.T. 1930. An aerial reconnaissance into the southeastern portion of central Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch, session 1928-1929, 30:83-108.
- ^ Madigan, C.T. 1931. The physiography of the Western Macdonnell Ranges, Central Australia. The Geographical Journal 78(5):417-433.
- ^ Madigan, C.T. 1936. The Australian sand-ridge deserts. The Geographical Review 26(2):205-227.
- ^ "Beyond the Cloisters: Exploration and Discovery at the University of Adelaide". Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2006.
- ^ Alice and Rosemary // Stateline Canberra, Friday, 5 November 2010