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24. Coins and tooth fragments
Title : 24. Coins and tooth fragments 24. Coins and tooth fragments
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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 :

Coins and tooth fragments found at Richie'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.


After the initial disappointment of discovering Lowe's 'skeletons' were nothing more than calcified tree roots, the mood of the party was buoyed when later that night they found the roots of a tooth.

Dentist, and physical anthropologist Dr TD Campbell had made the discovery, and awoke at first light to continue excavations in the hope of unearthing the matching crown. A match was found, and upon inspection, the tooth was believed to be that of an Aboriginal person.

On the same day, the party was 'electrified' by their discovery of two coins; a "worn and blackened Queen Victoria [Maundy] threepenny piece, dated 1841" and a "George III half sovereign, dated 1817".
Subjects
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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