John King Davis
| John King Davis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
19 February 1884 Kew, Surrey, England |
| Died | 8 May 1967 (aged 83) Toorak, Melbourne, Australia |
| Residence | Australia |
| Nationality | Anglo-Australian |
| Employer | Explorer, navigator |
| Known for | Captain of the Aurora |
| Parent(s) | James Green Davis and Marion Alice King |
John King Davis, CBE (19 February 1884 – 8 May 1967) was an English-born Australian explorer and navigator notable for his work captaining exploration ships in Antarctic waters as well as for establishing meteorological stations on Macquarie Island in the subantarctic and on Willis Island in the Coral Sea.
Davis's formal education, at Colet Court, London, and at Burford Grammar School, Oxfordshire, ended in 1900, when he and his father left London for Cape Town, South Africa.
Davis served as Chief Officer of the Nimrod during Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in 1908–1909. He was Captain of the Aurora and second in command of Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition in 1911–1914.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Davis volunteered for active service, and was put in charge of the troop transport Boonah, carrying troops and horses to Egypt and England.
He also served as Captain of the Discovery in 1929–1930 in the course of the British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition.
Davis was Australia's Commonwealth Director of Navigation from 1920 to 1949. It was at the beginning of this period that he volunteered to personally set up the remote Willis Island meteorological and cyclone warning station in 1921–22.
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