Edmund Besley Court Kennedy

Edmund Kennedy
Drawing of Edmund Kennedy, originally published by T. L. Mitchell (1838) Three Expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia
Born	5 September 1818 Guernsey, Channel Islands
Died	December 1848 Cape York, Queensland, Australia
Cause of death	speared by Aborigines
Resting place	approx 11°00′S 142°38′E / 11.000°S 142.633°E / -11.000; 142.633Coordinates: 11°00′S 142°38′E / 11.000°S 142.633°E / -11.000; 142.633
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Elizabeth College, Guernsey
Occupation	Explorer, Public Servant Surveyor
Employer	Surveyor-General's Department State of New South Wales
Known for	exploring
Parent(s)	Colonel Thomas Kennedy & Mary Ann
Website	http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020040b.htm

Edmund Besley Court Kennedy J. P. (5 September 1818 – December 1848) was an explorer in Australia in the mid nineteenth century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Sir Thomas Mitchell. Kennedy explored the interior of Queensland and northern New South Wales, including the Thomson River, the Barcoo River, Cooper Creek, and Cape York Peninsula.

Kennedy was born on 5 September 1818 on Guernsey in the Channel Islands to Colonel Thomas Kennedy (British Army) and Mary Ann (Smith) Kennedy. He was the sixth born of nine children, comprising four girls and five boys. Kennedy died in December 1848 after being speared by Aborigines in far north Queensland near Cape York.

Kennedy was educated at Elizabeth College Guernsey, and expressed an early interest in surveying. In 1837 he went to Rio de Janeiro, returning to England in 1838 when the business house in which he worked closed down. A naval officer friend of the family, Captain Charles James Tyers, suggested that if Kennedy obtained the necessary qualifications, he would arrange employment for him in Australia. During 1839 Kennedy attended lectures in surveying at King's College London, obtaining a certificate from his tutor.

In November 1839 Kennedy sailed for Sydney in the barque Globe which arrived in March 1840. Another family contact Captain Perry, who was deputy to Sir Thomas Mitchell, arranged a position for Kennedy as assistant surveyor in the New South Wales Survey Department after he had passed an examination. In August Kennedy was assigned to join Tyers on an overland journey to Melbourne, thence to Portland Bay for survey duties.