Charles Whitham: A Man of Passion – On Foot and in Eloquent Prose – For the Wilds of Western Tasmania

Charles Whitham’s name is etched into the history and geography of the rugged, mountainous landscape of western Tasmania. Today, four geographical features in the area bear his name, and his oft-reprinted 1924 book on its riches and beauty has become a collectors’ item. His childhood was spent in the exotic lands of northern India. In 1886, his family migrated to Tasmania where, at age 16, he ran away from home to make his own way in the world, leaving for posterity a fascinating account of his long journey. He found work as a railway clerk, leading him in 1897 to remote and isolated Queenstown, his home for the next 27 years.

Despite personal turmoil, these were years in which he made his mark. He contributed hugely to the civic and cultural life of the town, but it was his explorations of the surrounding rugged landscape and his rich written accounts of his journeys for which he is most remembered. He left Queenstown for Sydney, where he revelled in the buzz, the cuisine and the culture. He found work there with a federal agency that was a forerunner of ASIO and was transferred for some years to the isolation of early Canberra. He saw out his last years in his beloved Sydney.