Edmund A. Delisser (1829July 1900) was an Australian surveyor who first named the
Nullarbor Plain in 1866 when travelling between
Fowler's Bay
Fowlers Bay, formerly known as Yalata, is a bay, town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about north-west of the state capital, Adelaide. The town is located on Port Eyre, at the western end of the larger Fowlers B ...
and
Eucla.
South Australia
In 1865 he had been employed by the pastoral company DeGraves and Co. to sink wells and explore country north-west of Fowlers Bay and the
Head of the Bight area.
[ page 32,33]
In June 1865 he went from the Kudna rock hole to the northern edge of the Nullarbor after six days of travelling.
In August 1866 he subsequently followed the Aboriginal paths that went between the Head of the Bight and Eucla. It was on this trip that he became the first European to use the name ''Nullarbor''.
The Delisser Sandhills near Eucla are named after him.
Earlier career
He had been enlisted as Lieutenant in the
78th Highlanders in
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...
.
Later career
In the 1870s and 1880s he moved to Queensland, where his brother Alfred was also a surveyor. They had worked together in South Australia, as a map from 1861 attests.
In Queensland he had been involved in surveys for the
Townsville–
Charters Towers railway line (1878-1881), as well as
Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
–
Bundaberg
Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The Bun ...
(1884-1888),
and following that he was involved with the ''Walter Hodgson'' mine, which was located on Butcher's Creek some 35 miles outside of
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
.
In 1900, he died at the age of 71 near
Cairns
Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
,
Queensland.
See also
*
Wilson Bluff, Western and South Australian border
Wilson Bluff is a coastal cliff on the Australian continental coastline, extending from east of Eucla in Western Australia to south of Border Village in South Australia.
It was first recorded in 1885 as Wilson Point, but was Wilson Bluff in vo ...
Notes
Further reading
*
*
Explorers of South Australia
Explorers of Western Australia
Nullarbor Plain
Australian surveyors
1829 births
1900 deaths
{{Australia-bio-stub