George Elphinstone Dalrymple

George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple ( born May 6, 1826 in Elphinstone, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, † January 22, 1876 in St Leonards, Sussex, Scotland ) was an explorer, public servant and politician in Australia. With his expeditions Dalrymple laid the foundations for the colonization of the Australian state of Queensland.

Life

George Dalrymple was the tenth son of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Dalrymple Horn Elphinstone of Aberdeen Shire and his wife Graeme, nee Hepburn. He left Scotland in the 1840s and was coffee planters in Ceylon.

After Darling Downs in Australia he came between the years 1856 and 1858. With an expedition he wanted to the watershed of the Burdekin River. For this started from Rockhampton and reached the area of Bowen. He undertook several expeditions: for example, important was the expedition to Port Denison and another one that had the mission to found the town of Bowen. He was successful and the proclamation of the place Bowen took place on 11 April 1861. Subsequently he retired from public duties because he was dissatisfied with the associated extensive administrative tasks and new legal regulations, became ill and the colonial government trained explorers began.

The following year he started his own company with multiple partners. The establishment of Cardwell in 1864 goes back to Dalrymple and Arthur Scott. Cardwell should serve as a port Bowen in the north. With a small group expedition he reached the pasture Valley of Lagoons.

Dalrymple lost interest in his company, wanted to go into politics and sold his shares in the company. In March 1865 he was elected a member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. He was Colonial Secretary from July to August 1866 and it was intended to use him as governor of the new British colony of Queensland. But this did not happen. In November 1867 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1867, he did not run for Parliament, went back to the UK to restore his health. In 1869 he returned to Queensland. He was involved again as a businessman, which failed and he was insolvent. In October 1871, he was employed in public administration, which helped him because of his financial situation. The following year he was commissioned a path for telegraph poles on Seaview Range by Cardwell to explore. In September 1873 he led an expedition of Cardwell and reached in October the Endeavour River. When he sick with fever returned to Cardwell, he went to Brisbane. In May 1874 he became seriously ill and returned to Scotland. There died unmarried on 22 January 1876 in St Leonards in Sussex.

Afterlife

Because of his expeditions put George Dalrymple the foundations for the development of Queensland, so bear places or landmarks his name, for example, the Dalrymple National Park, Mount Dalrymple, Dalrymple - constituency, County Shire of Dalrymple and the lost city of Dalrymple, the first city in the early British colony of North Australia.