Centenary of the Kidson Expedition - 12 May 1914

How many times in the lead up to the outback travel season do we get asked about conditions on this track or that, where can we pull water from, how much fuel will I need? We often travel outback roads and highways unaware of the rich history of the area or of the feats of the rare individuals after which some of our iconic roads and tracks are named. In many cases their feats of exploration, endeavour and endurance have faded with time. I for one reckon it’s important we remember their achievements.

2014 marks the centenary of an expedition through the Great Sandy Desert by a New Zealand Geophysicist Dr. Edward Kidson. Yes, that’s the same Kidson after whom the WAPET road was renamed to support the memory of his achievements in science and exploration. In May, 1914 Kidson set out with a group of camels and men from Wiluna on a scientific expedition (The had left Kalgoolie on the 12th May). Over a period of three months he would measure the magnetic inclination across a vast swathe of the West Australian desert along the newly forged Canning Stock Route. Despite being completed by Alfred Canning in 1910, it was a year later in 1911 that Drover Tom Cole led the first cattle, a small mob of 300 head, down the Canning. Several other parties used that Canning that year to move stock but the next group through was to be Kidson’s expedition three years later. In fact only a handful of cattle drives had utilised the route by the time William Snell was tasked with refurbishing the route in 1929. This puts Kidson’s feat into some perspective.

Dr. Edward Kidson belonged to a well-known Nelson and Christchurch family, but was born at Bilston, Staffordshire, on March 12, 1882. He received his school and university education in New Zealand, graduating at the University of New Zealand with first-class honours in physics in 1904. His first post was that of assistant observer at the Magnetic Observatory, Christchurch, which led to his joining the staff of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1908. Before the Great War he was engaged on magnetic surveys in South America, Newfoundland and Australia, and he spent six months as magnetic observer on the magnetic survey ship Carnegie belonging to the Carnegie Institution.


In a blog, I have reproduced the article “A geophysicist and some Camels”, written in 2005 by Doug Morrison which gives an overview of the expedition and Kidson's achievements.

Remembering our Explorers - Dr Edward Kidson