Giles, Ernest (1835-1897), was an explorer who led four expeditions into the unmapped wilderness of central and western Australia. He has been called the last of Australia’s great explorers.
Giles was born in Bristol, England, on July 20, 1835. His parents emigrated to South Australia, where Giles joined them in 1850.
In 1872, Giles led an expedition organized by the German explorer and botanist Baron von Mueller. After exploring the country around Lake Amadeus, which Giles named, his two companions were unwilling to continue, so Giles was forced to turn back.
He was still eager to discover a route to the coast of Western Australia. This was the main purpose of his later expeditions. Baron von Mueller backed a further expedition in 1873. Giles set off from Macumba, South Australia, in August, again using horses. As their water ran low, Giles and Alfred Gibson went scouting ahead of the others. Gibson’s horse died. Giles lent his own horse to Gibson, urging him to make haste back to the base camp. Giles walked back, arriving after eight days of great privations. Gibson was never found. Giles named the arid wilderness Gibson’s Desert.
The South Australian pastoralist Sir Thomas Elder provided Giles with camels and money for his next attempt to travel west from the Overland Telegraph to the Indian Ocean. Giles left Beltana, South Australia, on May 6, 1875. He took with him 24 camels and an Afghan camel driver. In five months, he traversed more than 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers), much of it through the waterless Nullarbor Plain. On one stretch, which Giles named the Great Victoria Desert, they found no water for 320 miles (520 kilometers). All of Perth turned out on Nov. 10, 1875, to give the explorers a triumphal welcome.
Giles rested for two months before making the return journey across the Gibson Desert, which he described as “hell on earth.” The expedition reached Peake Telegraph Station, South Australia, on Aug. 23, 1876, completing a double crossing of Australia’s western half. Giles added to knowledge of inland Australia. He died in Coolgardie on Nov. 13, 1897.
See also Gibson Desert.
