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15. AD Smith surveying Ritchie's Ridge.
Title : 15. AD Smith surveying Ritchie's Ridge. 15. AD Smith surveying Ritchie's Ridge.
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Creator : Mountford, Charles P., photographer
Date of creation : 1938
Format : Photograph
Dimensions : 60 x 60 mm
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
Catalogue record
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Description :

AD Smith surveying Ritchie's Ridge during a South Australian Government expedition sent to the Simpson Desert to search for possible remains of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. The expedition was mounted to examine relics found near Mount Dare Station by station owner Edwin Lowe. The site of their excavation was named 'Ritchie's Ridge' in honour of the Chief Secretary of South Australia at that time, Sir George Ritchie.


Smith, having served 35 years with the Lands Department was Deputy Surveyor-General of South Australia at this time (becoming Surveyor-General in 1950).

It was his task to fix the position of Lowe's discovery and of their excavations.

According to Mountford,
"Mr Smith spent much time endeavouring to fix the position of the site. Late every night, he would mount to the crest of the sand hill and take observations on the heavenly bodies, and long before sunrise, he would be again at his post, trying hard to identify a distant trig station before the heat waves started to rise. As soon as this happened, observations were impossible."
Subjects
Related names :

Smith, Arthur Dickinson
Coverage year : 1938
Region : Flinders Ranges and Far North - Outback
Further reading :
Connell, Gordon. The mystery of Ludwig Leichhardt. Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1980

Lamshed, Max. 'Monty' : the biography of C.P. Mountford, Adelaide : Rigby, 1972, pp. 56-60

Mountford, Charles P. 'Papers relating to the South Australian Government Expedition to search for the remains of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt', PRG 1218/9

Price, A. Grenfell. The Mystery of Leichhardt : the South Australian government expedition of 1938, South Australia : Royal Geographical Society, 1937-38

Roderick, Colin. Leichhardt, the dauntless explorer, North Ryde, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 1988
Internet links :
Australian Dictionary of Biography - Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt

National Museum of Australia. Leichhardt: the man, the mystery, the science, the history [symposium held in 2007]

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