Edward Sidney Borradaile

Edward Sidney Borradaile
Born(1845-03-30)30 March 1845
Littlehampton, Sussex, UKGBI
Disappeared11 June 1874(1874-06-11) (aged 29)
Northern Territory, Province of South Australia
Occupations

Edward Sidney Borradaile (30 March 1845 – disappeared 11 June 1874) was a British engineer and journalist who disappeared in the Northern Territory whilst on a surveying expedition to Port Essington.[1][2][3] At the time of his disappearance Borradaile was presumed to have been killed by Aboriginal Australians near Mount Tor Rock in Arnhem Land.[2]

Early life

Stokes House

Edward Sidney Borradaile was born on 30 March 1845 in Littlehampton, Sussex to Harry Borradaile (1800–1876), a translator and civil servant in the Bombay Civil Service, and Alexandrina Borradaile (née Davidson; formerly Gatherer).[1][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Borradaile was the seventh of eight siblings.[7][10][11][12][13][14][15]

From the mid 1840s to the 1870s, the Borradaile family owned Stokes Hall in Ham and had addresses in Brighton[16] and Ealing.[17]

Career

In 1867, Borradaile and his elder brother Arthur arrived in Melbourne.[18][19] Between 1868 and 1869, Borradaile worked as an assistant engineer on the Launceston and Western railway in Tasmania.

Borradaile later settled in Sandhurst (present-day Bendigo)[20][21] and worked as mining correspondent for the Bendigo Independent between 1870 and 1873. Borradaile was shareholder in mining companies between 1870 and 1871, and the following year became the manager of the Christmas and Possum United Tribute Company.[22][23][24]

By 1873, Borradaile was working as a reporter on mining in Kapunda.[25] The same year Borradaile applied unsuccessfully for a position with the Northern Territory Government as an engineer and draftsman with experience of railway construction in Victoria and Tasmania.[26][27] Borradaile later settled in Port Darwin.[20]

Expedition

In June 1874, Borradaile and Thomas Permain, a surveyor, set off with five horses from Palmerston, Darwin, via Pine Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia to explore the region around Port Essington.[2][28] They were reported to be well-equipped but turned down the offer of taking a Port Essington aboriginal guide.[2] Their last communication was a telegram on 11 June from Pine Creek.[2]

Search party

In October a search party led by John Lewis with an Aboriginal tracker went to search for them but did not find them. “Mr. Lewis interviewed a tribe of natives near the Tor Rock, and from their replies he believed that Permain and Borrodaile were murdered by them. Mr. Lewis had a native boy with him who acted as interpreter.” They reported being attacked by 200 men armed with spears.[29][30][31][32]

Another report said “that certain natives not belonging to the Port Essington tribe had recently come in with the information that two white men had been killed by a neighboring tribe, supposed to be East Alligator blacks. That previous to their murder they had robbed them of everything except their books, that the explorers declined giving up these, and were consequently murdered. The locality of this barbarous deed was described as being near the Tor Rock, which is about 725 feet in height.”[33]

Memorials

Memorial plaque, St Andrew's Church

Both men have mountains named after them: Mt Borradaile (12°19′S 133°3′E, 120m), a registered Aboriginal sacred site known as Awunbarna, and Mt Permain (11° 56’S, 132° 58’E, 189m) which is near Mt Tor.[34][35]

There is a memorial plaque in Christ Church Cathedral, Darwin.[1]

       Recalling
Edward Sidney Borradaile
      Born March 1845
      Lost June 1874
"Exploring in the Northern Territory of
Australia two mountains being there
named after himself and his companion
Permain in memory of the event."
      – Ubique Deus –

St Andrew’s Church, where both of Borradaile's parents are buried, on Ham Common has a memorial plaque to Borradaile; the plaque has an outline of the part of the Northern Territory where they vanished with a cross marking 12°S 133°E where they are thought to have died.[36][37][38]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Edward Sidney Borradaile". Monument Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Late Mr. Permain". Northern Territory Times and Gazette. Darwin, Northern Territory. 20 March 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via Trove.
  3. 1 2 Jones, Arthur (14 September 1986). "Mysteries surround two early explorers". The Canberra Times. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. p. 14. Retrieved 12 July 2026.
  4. ↑ "Edward Sidney Borradaile [baptismal record]". Sussex Parish Registers; Littlehampton, St Mary; 1843–1856. Chichester, West Sussex: West Sussex Record Office: 13. 5 July 1845.
  5. ↑ "Edward Sidney Borradaile [birth index]". England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. 7 (Q2). London: General Register Office: 531. 1845.
  6. ↑ Nīlakaṇṭha (1827). The Vyuvuharu Muyookhu: An Authentic and Complete Treatise, Embracing All the Heads of Hindoo Law, Applicable to the Topics of Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence, and of Extensive Authority in Western India. Translated by Borradaile, Harry. Surat: Mission Press. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 "Marriages: Borradaile and Straker". The Belfast Newsletter. Belfast. 31 December 1864. p. 3. Lieutenant George William Borradaile, R.H.A., third son of Harry Borradaile. Esq., late of Bombay Civil Service
  8. ↑ "Alexandrina Davidson [baptismal record]". India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1806.
  9. ↑ "Harry Berradacle and Alexanderina Gatherer". India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1831.
  10. ↑ "Harry Richardson Borradaile [baptismal record]". India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1833.
  11. ↑ "Alexander Alfred Borradaile [baptismal record]". India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1834.
  12. ↑ "Mary Ann Jane Borradaile [baptismal record]". India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1837.
  13. ↑ "Alexandrina E Borradaile". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851; Surrey; Coulsdon. Kew, Richmond: The National Archives: 7. 1851.
  14. ↑ "Arthur Frederick Borradaile [baptismal record]". India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1844.
  15. ↑ "Walter Augustus Borradaile [baptismal record]". England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 [database online]. Provo, Utah: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc: 57. 1846.
  16. ↑ Ancestry. UK Poll Books and Electoral Registers
  17. ↑ "England and Wales, Census, 1861. Entry for Harry Borradaile and Alexandrina Borradaile. Ealing, Middlesex". Family Search. 1861.
  18. ↑ Ancestry Passenger List, Victoria, Australia, assisted and unassisted Passenger Lists. E S and A J Borradaile
  19. ↑ "The Queen's birthday". The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria). 26 May 1868. p. 5.
  20. 1 2 "Topics of the day". The Herald (Melbourne, Victoria). 11 November 1874. p. 2. One of the most prominent men during the great Sandhurst fever was Mr. Edward S. Borradaile. When the great crash came, Mr. Borradaile formed one of the many who went to Port Darwin to try their fortunes, and he has remained there ever since. He was a very daring and plucky young fellow, as many in Sandhurst know. It seems probable now, according to the Independent, that his daring has led to his untimely death. He went with a companion on an exploring expedition to Pine Creek, very slenderly provisioned, and they have not been heard of since. Little hope is entertained by the Port Darwin people of the adventurers ever returning. Victorians seem to have been very unlucky at Port Darwin.
  21. ↑ "Country news". The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria). 13 November 1874. p. 7.
  22. ↑ "CHRISTMAS AND POSSUM UNITED TRIBUTE COMPANY" (PDF). Victoria Government Gazette. 9: 354. 9 February 1872 – via Australasian Legal Information Institute.
  23. ↑ Ancestry. Australia, Victoria, Government Gazettes 1851-1907
  24. ↑ Victoria Government Gazette 9 February 1872 Page 354
  25. ↑ "Thomson's Kapunda Company". Kapunda Herald and Northern Intelligencer (SA). 9 September 1873. p. 3.
  26. ↑ Mastin, Julie (10 November 2016). A man of many dreams: John George Knight, a life of fortune and misfortune in Victoria and the Northern Territory, 1851-1892 (PDF). Charles Darwin University. p. 170.
  27. ↑ Boase, Frederic (1892). Modern English Biography: A-H. Netherton and Worth. p. 341.
  28. ↑ Bertacco, John (2014). "Surveyor Permein and the Village of Osborne" (PDF). White Cliffs' Journal of the Rye Historical Society. July-August-September 2014 – via Rye Historical Society.
  29. ↑ "The expedition to Port Essington". The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA). 29 December 1874. p. 2.
  30. ↑ "The exploring expedition". Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT). 21 November 1874. p. 3.
  31. ↑ "Northern Territory". South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA ). 7 August 1875. p. 17.
  32. ↑ "Overland to Port Essington". Adelaide Observer (SA). 16 October 1875. We then heard the voices of natives, when Prince, who understood their language said, ' Look out; blackfellow want to spear um horse.' Levi, myself, and the two boys at once made tracks for the horses, and when I got out of the reeds I saw about 200 men armed with spears. They had formed a circle, standing at equal distance apart with the exception of one place, which was much broader. This was for a gangway, where our horses were driven through into the circle. The sweeps were dancing about with their spears shipped in a warlike manner, but the moment they saw us they were off like a shot, but only for a short distance, when they turned round and said, 'Come on.' I at once said, 'Fire,' of course not trying to hit them. Our boy Prince understanding what they said, gave us great advantage over them.
  33. ↑ "Northern Territory Times". Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT). 20 March 1875. p. 2. The other unhappy subject to which we propose, briefly to refer is that of the missing explorers, Messrs. Permain and Borrodaile. By the Flying Cloud, which has just returned from Port Essington, we have some tidings of the probable fate of these unfortunate gentlemen. We understand that Mr. McMinn, the senior surveyor, who went to the old settlement on professional duty, gleaned the following particulars:—Mr.Robinson, who is in charge of the trepang fishery at the port, informed him that certain natives not belonging to the Port Essington tribe had recently come in with the information that two white men had been killed by a neighboring tribe, supposed to be East Alligator blacks. That previous to their murder they had robbed them of everything except their books, that the explorers declined giving up these, and were conseqently [sic] murdered. The locality of this barbarous deed was described as being near the Tor Rock, which is about 725 feet in height. Poor Mr. Permain! He was a kind, large-hearted, fearless, man, of long experience in bush life, and an excellent surveyor, a valuable acquisition to a new country. Mr. Borradaile was, we believe, a civil engineer by profession, full of earnestness and enterprise. It is hard indeed to lose such men, and harder still to fill their places.
  34. ↑ "Mount Permain and Mount Borradaile : the story behind the naming of two Northern Territory landmarks". AIATSIS.
  35. ↑ Spillett, Peter (1983). Mount Permain and Mount Borradaile : the story behind the naming of two Northern Territory landmarks.
  36. ↑ Greenwood, Sylvia D (1982). History of St Andrew's Ham Common. Ham Library. p. 11.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  37. ↑ Lang, Paul Howard (2018). Ham & Petersham Through Time. Amberley Publishing. p. 54.
  38. ↑ Ancestry. Burial Register for St Andrew's Church, Ham
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