Douglas Mawson, 1882 - 1958

Douglas Mawson, Antarctic explorer, geologist and a leading scientific figure in the Australian Commonwealth, died in Adelaide on 15 October 1958 in his seventy-seventh year. He was born at Shipley, near Bradford, on 5 May 1882, the son of Robert Ellis Mawson and Margaret Ann Mawson of Otley, Yorkshire. With his parents he moved when very young to Australia and entered the University of Sydney as a student in mining engineering. He graduated B.E. in 1901 and was appointed to a demonstratorship in chemistry in the University in 1902. His early interest in scientific exploration was shown by his first expedition to the New Hebrides in 1903 where, under the auspices of Capt. E. G. Rason, R.N., he spent six months in geological investigations in almost virgin country. This proved no easy task and included dangers not only from hostile natives but from the inhospitable jungle as well. During his years as a mining student in Sydney, Mawson had been greatly influenced by Professor T. W. Edgeworth David and after completing his assignment in the New Hebrides he returned to the geology school of the University from which he graduated B.Sc. in 1905. The early influence also of Professor A. Liversidge under whom he had served as demonstrator is reflected in Mawson’s enduring interest in the chemical aspects of geology. He could be regarded as one of the Australian pioneers in the field of geochemistry. In 1905 he was appointed Lecturer in Mineralogy and Petrology in the University of Adelaide which he served in various capacities until his death in 1958.