Cecil Madigan

Cecil Thomas Madigan (15 October 1889 – 14 January 1947) was an Australian explorer and geologist, academic, aerial surveyor, meteorologist, author and officer of the British army. He was born in Renmark, South Australia. His family had associations with William Benjamin Chaffey.

Born to contractor and fruitgrower Thomas Madigan and Mary Dixie (née Finey) a teacher, Cecil Madigan was the oldest of two sons and two daughters. He was raised by his mother as his father had died in the Kalgoorlie, Western Australian Goldfields. He attended Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, the University of Adelaide, and the South Australian School of Mining and Industry. He won a Rhodes scholarship in 1911 to study geology at Magdalen College, Oxford, but deferred the appointment as he was invited by Sir Douglas Mawson to go as meteorologist on the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. In December 1911 the party left Hobart on board the SY Aurora. In January 1912 they reached Commonwealth Bay in Adelie Land, Antarctica, where they set up a collection of buildings subsequently known as Mawson's Huts. From there he led several expeditions into uncharted regions of Adelie Land and King George V Land. These expeditions gathered vital information about the presence of coal in Antarctica. He was awarded the King's Polar Medal upon their return. Madigan later served with the Royal Engineers in France during the First World War. He saw action at the Battle of Loos where he was wounded, and the Battle of the Somme.

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