Allan Davidson
DAVIDSON, Allan Arthur, GASM AMIMM MAMMA(1873-1930)
Allan was born on January 26, 1873, at Harrow, Victoria, the younger son of prospector and station manager James Johnson Davidson and his wife Janet Davidson nee Aitcheson. He was educated at Harrow State School.
By 1886, the family had moved to Thackaringa Station, near Broken Hill, where J J Davidson had been appointed Manager.
In 1887 Allan was working at mines at Broken Hill and Thackaringa. By 1889 he was employed at the Australian Smelting and Refining Company at Dry Creek, just north of Adelaide, progressing to Assistant Surveyor by 1893. He also graduated from the Adelaide School of Mines (opened in 1889) in Mining and Metallurgy.
Allan went to Western Australia in 1893 working in mines and prospecting. He acquired mining leases adjoining major mines including forfeited leases from Dorham Doolette and William Brookman. He returned to South Australia and in January 1894 took up a 20 acre goldmining lease at Mount Pleasant in partnership with G Olsen. In March 1894 he was one of twelve members of a mining syndicate that struck reef gold at Mount Pleasant. In August 1894 was elected Secretary of the Talunga Mining Bureau at Mount Pleasant.
His older brother, James Edward Davidson, a journalist, became the Personal Assistant to the WA Premier, Sir John Forrest, in 1895 and went on to found News Limited.
He returned to Western Australia and worked as an assistant to Kalgoorlie consulting engineer, Robert Gibson. In 1896, Allan was the Manager of the Richmond Gold Mine at Day Dawn. He was also involved with Arthur Holroyd, Erle Huntley, Richard Eades and John Iles in identifying telluride as being a gold bearing ore at the Block 45 mine and pioneering its treatment.
Zebina Lane commissioned Allan to explore New Guinea for gold mining prospects. Allan sailed from Fremantle on the “Wollowra” in March 1897 and completed his New Guinea exploration in August 1897 concluding that costs were too high due to the isolation of the goldfields.
Zebina Lane was also involved in appointing Allan as the Manager Central Australian Exploration Company in 1898 where £10,000 was spent over three years exploring 27,000 square miles of the country west of Tennant Creek and Barrow Creek for pastoral property and gold mining prospects. His major discovery was the Tanami Gold Field in August 1900 at his 72nd camp site.
His incredibly accurate and detailed maps were used for many years after the expedition by prospectors and mining companies.
In December 1899, he married Charlotte (Lottie) Beeston in St Augustine’s Church, Unley, South Australia. They had a son, Alan Salisbury Davidson and a daughter, Mary Doreen Davidson. He had previously married widow Charlotte Isabella McMinn and they had a son, Reginald Victor Claude Davidson.
In 1901 he was involved with mining in West Africa (Nigeria and Gold Coast (now Ghana)) and became Manager of West Africa Mines Limited. In 1907, Allan set up in partnership with John Iles at Coquimbo in Chile.
During the First World War he was working in Nigeria. The Australian National University states in his biography “It was while returning to Nigeria from London during the great war that Mr Davidson had another thrilling experience – this time on sea. The Fullabar, on which he was a passenger, was sunk by a German submarine. For three hours he swam about, and at the same time kept the head of the captain above water. Unfortunately, the skipper was dead when he was lifted into a rescue boat. Mr Davidson was one of only a few survivors. He arrived back in London in an overcoat and one sock.”
In February 1920, he left England for Lagos and returned to prospecting in Nigeria. In 1921 he was the Manager of Associated Nigerian Tin Mines and in the 1920’s, John Iles and Allan were both Directors of the Keffi Consolidated Tin Company in northern Nigeria. John Iles and Allan also operated other tin mines on the Bauchi Plateau in north east Nigeria. At the time the tin mines they were associated with were amongst the largest tin concentrate producers in the world.
Allan sold up his interests in tin mining in Nigeria and then worked in London as a Consulting Mining Engineer.
He returned to Western Australia in 1927 before travelling back to London. Allan died in a nursing home in London, of heart failure, on January 7, 1930. He was survived by a son from his first marriage, his second wife and a son and a daughter from his second marriage. His second wife, Lottie, died at Whitstable, England on April 13, 1935.
He had been elected an Associate Member of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in 1907. He was also a Member of the Australasian Mine Managers Association.
Mount Davidson, in the Northern Territory is named after him.
His biography is available at Obituaries Australia;
Obituary - Allan Arthur Davidson - Obituaries Australia (anu.edu.au)
References:
Denis A Cumming and Richard G Hartley, Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining, Richard G Hartley, Rossmoyne, 2014.
Transactions IMM, Vol 40, 1930-31, p. 449.
State Records Office Western Australia Gold Mining Leases and Maps.
Carl Bridge, Davidson, James Edward (1870–1930), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, 1981.
Hamilton Spectator, 16.12.1886, p. 3.
Adelaide Advertiser, 16.3.1894, p. 6.
Adelaide Advertiser 7.8.1894, p. 6.
Western Argus 15.12.1894, p. 3.
Adelaide Advertiser, 18.11.1901, p. 7.
Boulder Evening Star, 16.4.1907, p. 1.
Kalgoorlie Sun, 18.1.1920, p. 7.
Examiner, 21.8.1926, p. 10.
Daily News, 13.4.1927, p. 7.
West Australian, 1.1.1930, p. 5.
Adelaide News, 9.1.1930, p. 12.
