Biographical entry: Kennedy, Edmund Besley Court (1818 - 1848)
- Born
- 1818
- Died
- 1848
Summary
Various collections. Papers of the expedition from Rockingham Bay to Cape York, 1848. Original items contained herein were buried by Jacky Jacky after Kennedy's death and were recovered 11 May 1849. Contents:
Expedition journal and Kennedy's letter of instruction on leaving some of his party at Cape Weymouth, fragments only.
Details of expedition camp sites 8 to 82, comprising 38 sketches and fragments. An additional item as a sheet compiled by A.G. McLean indicating the latitude of each camp.
Another sheet, as above, entitled: 'Map compiled from Kennedy's notes and papers by A.G. McLean, January 1850', Survey Office, Brisbane, one sheet in three sections, 6½ cm x 213 cm. Three volumes. MITCHELL: A.2893-A.2893, D.330.
Personal papers, receipts and accounts, expedition costs, ca.1847-1849. These papers were transferred from the N.S.W. Lands Department 1906 and 1916. MITCHELL: A.1769.
Correspondence, government despatches, poetry etc. Relating to Kennedy. MITCHELL: A.293-295.
Meteorological journal of the late Mr E.B. Kennedy. Kept on his journey from Rockingham Bay towards Cape York, 6 June-9 November 1848, pp.8, 33 cm, copy. MITCHELL: Colonial Secretary's In-Letters 1850/9806, also microfilm FM.3/94.
Enquiry touching the death of E.B.C. Kennedy ... who left Sydney Harbour 29 April 1848 on an exploring expedition to Tropical Australia, New South Wales Water Police Office, 1849. MITCHELL: A.857.
'Narrative of an expedition undertaken under the direction of... E.B. Kennedy for the exploration of the country between Rockingham Bay and Cape York', by W. Carron. William Carron was the expedition botanist, and was one of the three survivors of the exploit. MITCHELL: A.305.
Details of marked trees on the Mitchell River. Presumed to have been marked by Kennedy on his last expedition, compiled by G. Pike of the Mitchell Library. MITCHELL: AK.6.
Papers concerning E.B. Kennedy, 1845-1849, 1854. Includes journals and notebooks by A.A. Turner 1847-1848 on the expedition down the Victoria or Barcoo River, Queensland with Kennedy. Draft of a letter from A.A. Turner, n.d.
Letter from Kennedy to Mrs Turner, 25 December 1845.
Field books of Edmund Kennedy, probably while he was assistant surveyor at Portland Bay, three volumes.
Probate of Kennedy's will, 4 May 1849 and of Edward Henry Lane's will, 12 March 1849.
Portraits of A.A. Turner.
One reel negative microfilm, copied from the originals in the possession of E. Beale, Esq., 1963. Not to be reproduced without the permission of Edgar Beale Esq. Contents list at beginning of reel. MITCHELL: Microfilm FM.4/1723.
Typescript, 'The Site of Kennedy's Weymouth Camp', by Edgar Beale, Woollongong, 1961, pp.20. 26½ cm, includes photograph and map of Cape Weymouth, north Queensland. MITCHELL: A.4451.
Additional records relating to Kennedy and the Cape York expedition including:
Log of H.M.S. Rattlesnake. Covers voyage, 24 September 1846-27 August 1848 under Captain Owen Stanley, including the transfer of Kennedy and party from Sydney to Rockingham Bay, April-May 1848, and the ship's passage on to Pipon Island off Cape Melville. MITCHELL: A.3925.
Journal of a voyage from Sydney to Cape York in the schooner Ariel, 2 October 1848-27 February 1849, one volume. This record was kept by John Griffiths, mate on the voyage of the Ariel 1848-1849; it is catalogued under: Griffiths, John. MITCHELL: ML.MSS.119, negative microfilm at FM.3/55. Reference to Kennedy occurs in numerous historical collections of the period. In the Mitchell Library these include the papers of Sir Oswald Brierly, Sir George Gipps, Phillip Parker King, Sir Thomas Mitchell, and the Clarke Papers (uncatalogued), a Kennedy sketchbook and individual sketches are also held; the Dixson Library holds additional material.