Ernest Giles

Early life Ernest Giles was born in Bristol, England, the eldest son of William Giles ( – 28 May 1860), a merchant, and Jane Elizabeth Giles, née Powell ( – 15 March 1879). Their family had been in comfortable circumstances but fell on hard times and emigrated to Australia. William Giles was living in North Adelaide by 1850 William was later employed by Customs in Victoria, and his wife founded a successful school for girls in that colony.

Giles was educated at Christ's Hospital school, Newgate, London. In 1850, at the age of 15, he emigrated to Australia, joining his parents in Adelaide. In 1852 Giles went to the Victorian goldfields, then became a clerk at the Post Office in Melbourne, and later at the County Court. Soon tiring of town life Giles went to the back country and gained valuable experience as a bushman. In 1865, he explored north-west of the Darling River in the Yancannia Range looking for pastoral country and land capable of cultivating hemp, as it was valuable for rope at the time.

Exploration First Expedition

Giles did not attempt an organised expedition until 22 August 1872, when he left Chambers Pillar with two other men and traversed much uncharted country to the north-west and west, along the Finke River, through the Krichauff Range and then to Mount Udor. He then turned south, encountering a freshwater spring surrounded by caves filled with Aboriginal rock art. Giles denigrated the paintings, stating they were childish manifestations created by "reptile-eating Troglodytes". A member of his group, Samuel Carmichael, then proceeded to vandalise the rock drawings "with a few choice specimens of the white man's art".

Finding their way barred by Lake Amadeus and that their horses were getting very weak, they decided to return. Giles viewed Kata Tjuta from Lake Amadeus, which he named Mount Olga after the Queen of Spain. His group returned to Charlotte Waters and then to Adelaide. and Lake Amadeus. He had wanted to name these Mt Mueller and Lake Ferdinand respectively, to honour his benefactor Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, however Mueller prevailed on him to instead honour the King Amadeus of Spain and Queen Olga of Württemberg. Giles was beaten to viewing Uluru by a competing explorer, William Gosse.

Second expedition Here they encountered and had a skirmish with a group of Aboriginal men. Giles and his men fired their rifles and shotguns at them, but didn't state how many were killed or wounded. They reached Port Augusta on 23 May and retraced Giles journey back to Wynbring and Ooldea following a generally westerly course. The journey was better than his previous expeditions as the camels were far more attuned to the dry conditions than horses, of which many had cruel deaths on his first two expeditions.

After a week's rest, the journey was resumed on 6 October, still heading west. Ten days later the expedition encountered a group of Kalamaia people at Ularring. Giles enjoyed a "peaceful and happy" few days with these people until he felt threatened by a large group of men approaching in a ceremonial fashion. Giles ordered his men to attack this group, and despite the pleas from the children who were in the camp to desist, they fired on them with shotguns and Snider-Enfield rifles. Several were killed and wounded, and Giles made a bonfire of the spears and boomerangs that belonged to the people he afterwards derided as "reptiles". On 17 November 1875 the party arrived at Guildford, and at Perth the next day, where they received an enthusiastic reception.

H. H. Finlayson in The Red Centre: man and beast in the heart of Australia (1935) said of Giles:

In 1976 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post.

Mount Giles, the third highest mountain in the Northern Territory; Lake Giles, 160 km (100 mi) north of Southern Cross, Western Australia; and the Giles Weather Station, near the Western Australian-South Australian border, were named after him.

Family His parents were William Giles (c. 1795 – 28 May 1860) of HM Customs, Victoria and Jane Elizabeth Giles, née Powell (c. 1804 – 15 March 1879).

He had five sisters, one of these was Jane Rebecca Giles, and the George Gill Range was named by Giles in honour of her husband. His other sisters included Helen Sarah Giles, Harriet Eliza Giles, and Alice Mary Giles.

His brother was Robert Eugene Giles of Hamilton, Victoria, who accepted the Royal Geographical Society medal on his brother's behalf. He was later jailed for misappropriation while trustee, before moving to Adelaide, from where he continued to promote his brother's memory.

Plant names The unrelated Christopher Giles (c. 1841–1917) assisted Giles's 1872–73 and 1873–74 expeditions, collecting plants for von Mueller in the region of Charlotte Waters. Specimens collected by E. Giles are cared for at the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

The genus Gilesia, which contains one species, Gilesia biniflora , the western tar-vine, is named for both Christopher and Ernest Giles. Cyperus gilesii and Panicum gilesii are usually listed as honouring Ernest Giles, but the type details for both species are given by George Bentham only as "Central Australia. Charlotte Waters, Giles". Christopher Giles was honoured in the species Eremophila christopheri, the dolomite fuchsia bush, whereas the desert fuchsia, Eremophila gilesii, which is widespread across the region, honours Ernest. A species of wattle, Acacia gilesiana, is named for Ernest Giles.