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B Herschel BABBAGE
(1815 -1878)
B. Herschel Babbage was the eldest son of the well-known inventor of the calculating
machine. He had been educated as an engineer, and for a considerable time had
followed his profession in Europe. He had been engaged on several main lines
in England, and had worked in conjunction with the celebrated Brunel. He had
also been commissioned by the Government of Piedmont to report on a line across
the Alps by way of Mount Cenis. He had remained in Italy some years until his
work was interrupted by the revolution. He had returned to England, and had
subsequently come to South Australia in 1851, in the ship Hydaspes.
In 1851, the Colonial Secretary Earl Grey, assigned Babbage to perform a geological
and mineralogical survey of the colony of South Australia requested by the colony's
government and Babbage arrived in South Australia in November. Over the next
few years worked on a number of government projects, first setting up the Government
Gold Assay Office in Victoria Square.
Babbage began his exploration of South Australia in 1856 when sent to search
for gold up to the Flinders Ranges, during which time he discovered the MacDonnell
River, Blanchewater and Mount Hopeful (renamed Mount Babbage after him in 1857
by George Goyder). Babbage also disproved the notion that Lake Torrens was a
single horseshoe-shaped lake or inland sea, ascertaining a number of gaps in
the lake, which were later traversed by other explorers such as Augustus Gregory
and Peter Warburton.
In 1858 Babbage led an expedition to explore the north of the colony between
Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner. In June, near Pernatty Creek, he discovered
the remains of William Coulthard of Angas Park, Nuriootpa, who had died of thirst
around 10 March 1858 and in October he discovered Emerald Springs.
Babbage also discovered that Lake Eyre (sighted by Edward John Eyre in 1840)
actually consisted of a large northern and a smaller southern lake. A peninsula
on Lake Eyre North was named Babbage Peninsula in 1963.
As Babbage continued his explorations, sometimes accompanied by his son, Charles
Whitmore Babbage, the government grew tired of his slow, methodical pace, and
the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Francis Dutton, responded to the controversy
by replacing him with Peter Warburton. Babbage complained of unfair treatment
and petitioned the House of Assembly to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into
the issue.
His last years were spent at his home on South Road, St Mary's, where he had
an excellent vineyard and was a keen winemaker.
B Herschel BABBAGE