Author Giles Ernest

outh Australia (now in the Northern Territory), around the middle of August and traversed much previously untrodden country to the north-west and west. Finding their way barred by Lake Amadeus and that their horses were getting very weak, a return was made to the Finke River and thence to Charlotte Waters and Adelaide, where Giles arrived in January 1873. Giles looked upon his expedition as a failure, but he had done well considering the size and equipment of his party. Giles' friend Baron von Mueller raised a subscription so that a new expedition could be made. The services of William Henry Tietkins as first assistant was obtained, and with two other men a start was made on 4 August 1873. The journey began considerably south from the previous expedition and from the Alberga River a generally western course was traversed. A month later in the Musgrave Ranges a fine running river was found and named the Ferdinand and by 3 October 1873 the party was approaching longitude 128 East. The country was extremely dry and though tested in various directions it was a constant struggle to get enough water to keep the horses going. Early in November, having passed longitude 126, a partial return was made and on 20 December 1873 the neighbourhood of Mount Scott was reached. A turn to the north and then west was made and the farthest westerly point was reached on 23 April 1874. Giles and one of the men, Alfred Gibson, had been scouting ahead when the latter's horse died. Giles gave him his own horse with instructions to follow their tracks back and obtain assistance. Giles made his way back to their depot on foot in eight days, almost completely exhausted, to find that Gibson had not reached the camp. A search was made for him for several days without success. The stores were almost finished, nothing further could be done, and on 21 May 1874 the return journey began. Giles named the desert Gibson Desert after his companion. On 24 June 1874 they were on a good track to the Finke River and on 13 July 1874 Charlotte Waters was reached. Giles had again failed to cross the continent, but in the circumstances all had been done that was possible. Giles was the first European to see the rock formations of The Olgas, now known by their Aboriginal name of Kata Tjuta, and Lake Amadeus. He had wanted to name these Mt Mueller and Lake Ferdinand respectively, to honour his benefactor Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, however Mueller prevailed on him to instead honour the King Amadeus of Spain and Queen Olga of Württemberg. Giles supposedly discovered Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), but was beaten to the claim by a competing explorer, William Gosse. Early in 1875 Giles prepared his diaries for publication under the title Geographic Travels in Central Australia, and on 13 March 1875, with the generous help of Sir Thomas Elder, he began his third expedition. Proceeding considerably to the north from Fowler's Bay the country was found to be very dry. Retracing his steps Giles turned east, and eventually going round the north side of Lake Torrens reached Elder's station at Beltana. There the preparations for his fourth journey were made, and with Tietkins again his lieutenant, and with what Giles had always wanted, a caravan of camels, a start was made on 6 May. Port Augusta was reached on 23 May and, after taking a northerly course to clear the lakes, a generally westerly course was followed. Some water was carried, and the party was saved the continual excursions in search of water for horses that had caused so much difficulty to the previous expeditions. Towards the end of September over 320 miles had been covered without finding a drop of water, when almost by accident a fine supply was found in a small hollow and the whole party was saved. After a rest of nine days the journey was resumed on 6 October the course being still west. Ten days later the expedition was attacked by a large body of aborigines and Giles was compelled to fire on them. On 4 November they met a white stockman belonging to an outlying station. Their course was now south-west and on 13 November 1875 at Culham station they were met by John Forrest, who escorted them to Perth where they had an enthusiastic reception a few days later. Giles stayed for two months at Perth. Tietkins and Jess Young, another member of the expedition, went back to Adelaide by sea, and on 13 January 1876 Giles began the return journey taking a course generally about 400 miles north of the last journey. He arrived at Adelaide in September 1876 after a good journey during which the camels were found to be invaluable. In 1880 Giles published The Journal of a Forgotten Expedition, being an account of his third expedition, and in 1889 appeared Australia Twice Traversed: The Romance of Exploration in two substantial volumes. This gives an account of his five expeditions. He made a number of other minor journeys and his last years were spent as a clerk in the warden's office at Coolgardie, where his great knowledge of the interior was always available for prospectors. Giles was made a fellow and was given the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1880 and was made a knight of the crown of Italy. Despite his explorations, the various Australian governments at the time turned their respective backs on his achievements once they had been completed, and refused to patronise any further exploits or give him much in the way of financial reward. Governor Sir William Jervois claimed on 11 October 1881, 'I am informed that he gambles and that his habits are not always strictly sober'. Giles was a land classifier in the Western District of Victoria in 1877-79, and became a clerk in the Coolgardie, Western Australia warden's office in the 1890s,. Giles eventually died of pneumonia, virtually forgotten, on 13 November 1897 and is buried at Coolgardie Cemetery. He was unmarried. H. H. Finlayson in The Red Centre:man and beast in the heart of Australia (1935) said of Giles: In 1976 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.[3] The Giles Weather Station near the Western Australian-South Australian border is named after him.