Ernest Lidgey
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Ernest Lidgey (22 June 1863 – 16 February 1925) was an Australian
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
who conducted important geological surveys of mining areas in
Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...
.


History

Lidgey was born in Adelaide the son of John Lidgey (1834–1887) and his wife Hanna Lidgey, née Cornish, both immigrants from
Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...
,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, who were married 20 August 1862 at the Friends meeting house, Adelaide. They had another child, Lilian Mary Lidgey, in Norwood on 22 October 1864, before in September 1865 returning to Cornwall. Lidgey was educated in England, returning around 1880 to
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
, where he was appointed a probationary assistant to Reginald A. F. Murray, Government geologist, who required extra hands to complete the geological survey of the Colony. His tasks included the Mount Wills tin mining district,
Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...
, Malmsbury and
Lauriston Lauriston ( ) is an area of central Edinburgh, Scotland, and home to a number of significant historic buildings. It lies south of Edinburgh Castle and the Grassmarket, and north of The Meadows public park. Lauriston is the former location ...
. In 1897, he was promoted to Assistant Geological Surveyor. Late December that year, he was appointed Government Mining Representative in London, but resigned less than a year later, returning around 1 July 1898. Lidgey joined the Brunswick syndicate, an English consortium, as consulting engineer and manager of the Hampton Plains mines, resigning in September 1902. He then set up in London as a consulting engineer, and, no longer in the Government employ, was scathing in the criticism of Victoria's Department of Mines. He returned to Australia in 1903 with an "Electric Ore Finder" for which he had purchased a licence, and brought a set of apparatus and a team of operators to Australia and conducted various trials, the first geophysical surveys for minerals in Australia. The last years of Lidgey's life are a mystery. His wife, who died in 1921, left her estate valued at some £2,800 to him in her Will dated 1908, but apart from a death notice in ''The Argus'', he appears not to have been otherwise mentioned in newspapers since mention in 1907 of the 1904 Ore-Finder trials.


Memberships

*Member, Australasian Association and acted as vice-president of Section C (Geology) in 1894. *Member,
Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) provides services to professionals engaged in all facets of the global minerals sector and is based in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. History The Institute had its genesis in 1893 with ...
and president 1901 *Associate,
Royal Society of Victoria The Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) is the oldest scientific society in Victoria, Australia. Foundation In 1854 two organisations formed with similar aims and membership, these being the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science (found ...
*Member,
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM) was a British research institution, founded in 1892. Members of the Institution used the post-nominals MIMM. In 2002, it merged with The Institute of Materials (IOM) to form the Institute of Materials, ...
, London, 1906–1909


Other interests

*He may have been an amateur botanist, as he is noted for collecting Eucalyptus stricklandii (in 1911 ?).https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/lidgey-ernest.html National herbarium


Family

Lidgey married Blanche Randall Wasley ( – 16 September 1921) on 27 November 1895. They appear to have had no children. Blanche died at their home on Balaclava road,
Caulfield, Victoria Caulfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. C ...
; Ernest died at 6 Imperial Avenue, Caulfield, and his remains were privately interred in the
Brighton Cemetery Brighton General Cemetery is located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South, Victoria, but takes its name from Brighton, Victoria. History The Cemetery pre-dates the Caulfield Roads Board – the first official recognition of the suburb of ...
. Ernest had three sisters: *Lilian Mary Lidgey (22 October 1864 – ) *Hannah Cornish "Nance" Lidgey (1869 – ) married Albert Milner at
St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...
on 11 February 1853. *Agnes Beatrice Lidgey (1875 – 4 September 1933) lived at 6 Imperial Avenue, Caulfield.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lidgey, Ernest 1863 births 1925 deaths Australian geologists Australian people of Cornish descent Australian mining engineers People from the Colony of Victoria