MADIGAN, C.T.

Crossing the Dead Heart

Melbourne, Georgian House, 1946.

Octavo, xiv, 171 pages plus 52 plates and a folding map.

Cloth; frontispiece very slightly cockled; an excellent copy with the dustwrapper slightly chipped, rubbed and creased.

An account of the 1939 Simpson Desert Expedition. Loosely inserted is a telegram from Madigan to Dr [Emily Dorothea] Pavy, Unley Park, Adelaide. It is from the 'Simpson Desert Party via Yunta', and is date-stamped 26 June 1939: 'Thanks message appreciated reminder old phase old days expect reach Queensland border tomorrow Madigan'. The preface to the book acknowledges the assistance of Mr H.E. Dring of Yunta, 'who handled all the wireless traffic through his station V.H.U9. This included transcribing many press and private messages for telegraphing'. + MADIGAN: Central Australia. Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1936 [first edition]. Octavo, xii, 267 pages plus 13 plates and 2 folding maps. Cloth stained, with some loss of colour to the leading edges (in contact with a wall affected by rising damp); internally in excellent condition. 'An outline of the early exploration of Central Australia, and its political history, followed by an account of my own journeys in the regions'; these include important geological expeditions, the first aerial reconnaissance in 1929 and numerous Simpson Desert expeditions. Substantially different from the 1944 revised edition; not least, none of the plates in this first edition appear in the later one. This copy is inscribed on the front flyleaf to 'E. Dorothea Pavy. In belated appreciation of "Welfare Work" from C.T. Madigan. June 1936'. An undated but contemporary photograph is loosely inserted: it takes the form of a Christmas card (approximately 160 × 110 mm, with deckle edges), and above a calligraphic personalised greeting (including the names of Madigan and his wife, and their address in the Adelaide suburb of Blackwood) there appears an image of Madigan 'setting a course in the desert' (reproduced with this caption opposite page 59 in the 1946 edition of 'Crossing the Dead Heart'). Dr Emily Dorothea Pavy (nee Proud, 1885-1967) was awarded the first Catherine Helen Spence scholarship for sociology in 1912. 'She left next year for the London School of Economics where she investigated the industrial conditions of female factory workers (DSc, 1916). Her thesis was published as "Welfare Work" (London, 1916)' under her maiden name ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). We understand that the Prouds and the Madigans were neighbours. [4 items].

Item #117518

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