Pannikin

Part of the Historical Relics Collection, this pannikin is believed to have belonged to William Harry Tietkens or one of the party members of the Giles Expedition of 1875. Ernest Giles is considered by some to be the first and last of the explorers between 1872 - 1876 to explore Australia's western interior. He undertook five expeditions during this time, the 1876 using only camels. Giles claimed to have found most of the great western plateau in Central Australia discovered and named the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts and completed crossings of Australia between the 24th and 29th parallels. Tietkens who is thought to be the owner of this pannikin did not accompany Giles on his 5th expedition in 1876, therefore if the pannikin is from this time, it belonged to another member. Tietkens was second-in-command and astronomer on two of Ernest Giles' expeditions. The 1875 expedition, with camels by courtesy of Hon Thomas Elder whose Beltana property the party left in 1875 to travel to Perth, was looking for an overland stock route through Central Australia from SA to settlement in WA. Tietkens took various kinds of seeds to plant at favourable points on the expedition. These came from Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller in Melbourne. This item demonstrates the type of supplies carried by early European explorers, and the manner in which it has been saved, documented and donated to the Historical Relics collection is evidence of the importance placed on these early explorations and desire to record their achievements.

This pannikin was donated to the Art Gallery of South Australia by Major Borthwick and was later transferred to the History Trust of South Australia