- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
committee of the Bowls Club at Batchelor. He assisted the Rum Jungle Hockey Club and was a member of Lions
International, the Batchelor/Adelaide River Tourist Promotion Association and, as a Trustee, the Rum Jungle
Lake Recreation Board. He spent 15 years maintaining and improving the lake area for which he received the
Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Towns’ Award in 1990. He suffered a stroke in 1982 that left him with a speech
impediment and loss of memory, but this did not deter him from continuing his community work. He was awarded
the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 1977 for services to the community.
E Hill, ‘Crocodiles and Pink Lotus’, in Walkabout’s Australia, 1968; C Stringer, Saga of Sweetheart, 1986; family information.
JANET DICKINSON, Vol 2.
LITCHFIELD, CHRISTABEL JOHANNA: see RODERICK, CHRISTABEL JOHANNA
LITCHFIELD, FREDERICK HENRY (1832–?), expedition member, explorer and reputedly the first person to
find gold in the Northern Territory, was born on 27 April 1832 at Gazapore, India, second child of Charles William
Litchfield and his wife Margaret, nee O’Connor. His father was a Major in the 38th Regiment of Foot; he and one
other person were the only survivors when the company was destroyed at the siege of Bharatpur, India, in 1826.
Frederick’s mother is presumed to have died shortly after his birth because his father married his second wife,
Ellen Munro, at Beckampore, India, 20 February 1835. The family moved back to England where the third child,
George Charles, was born at Canterbury, 21 May 1836, then on to Ireland where a fourth child, William James,
was born at Dublin, 8 April 1838. When Charles was about to retire from the army the family set sail for Adelaide,
South Australia, in the barque d’Auvergne, arriving 21 March 1839. Also on board ship were Charles’s brother,
Dr John Palmer Litchfield, and his sister, Ann Litchfield, who later married the Honourable Thomas Reynolds.
Another brother, Frederick Burnett Litchfield, followed later.
On 17 June 1840, Litchfield’s father joined the Adelaide Metropolitan Police Force as a sub-inspector and on
31 March 1847, he was promoted to Inspector of Metropolitan Police. He died on 25 August 1850, aged 47, and
his funeral was one of the largest seen in Adelaide to that date. Fred Litchfield continued to live with his family in
Grenfell Street, Adelaide.
Litchfield spent seven years between 1852 and 1863 in the Bendigo and Ovens goldmining districts of Victoria,
and it was possibly there that he met Alexander Tolmer on his Gold Escort trips to Mount Alexander. Tolmer was
a friend of George E Mason, husband to Litchfield’s older sister, Agnes. In September 1859, Litchfield joined
Tolmer’s expedition to race John McDouall Stuart across the continent from south to north; but the severe drought
of that year caused Tolmer to abandon the attempt after two and a half months. Tolmer experienced some problems
with several of his men, but found Litchfield trustworthy and a good worker. Tolmer said of him, ‘I cannot too
much extol the untiring zeal and energy which this young man has from the first starting of the expedition always
displayed, and the ever ready aid and cheerful assistance I have received at his hands.’
In 1864 Litchfield, possibly at Tolmer’s recommendation, was accepted for the Finniss expedition to the
Northern Territory in the capacity of a labourer to look after the stock. The expedition left Adelaide on 29 April 1864
and arrived at Escape Cliffs on 22 June.
The company proceeded up the Adelaide River to the first camp. On 8 July, Litchfield joined the first exploring
party led by B T Finniss with Fred Finniss and three others. They examined the Daly Ranges and found and named
Fred’s Pass. On 9 August, Litchfield was wounded in the arm by a stone spear in an affray with the Aborigines.
Three spears wounded another member of the party and one Aborigine was shot. Finniss praised Litchfield and
three others for their gallant conduct. At the end of August the camp was moved to Escape Cliffs, and from then
until the new year, Litchfield was often sent out to search for straying goats, buffalos and horses, or to hunt wallaby
and kangaroo, or fish for salmon to supplement the dwindling food supply. On 17 November 1864, he was one of
19 men to sign a letter of complaint to the Government Resident about insufficient food.
In January 1865, Litchfield, along with Fred Finniss and Ross, started out for Cape Hotham to search for suitable
stone for building, and in March, he was one of a party of five, led by Fred Finniss, sent out to explore toward the
Daly Ranges. They were away 15 days. During the following month, Litchfield accompanied an exploration party
led by Auld and four others to Port Darwin. The Government Resident met the party at Stokes Hill in the schooner
Beatrice with extra provisions. They found and named the King and Howard rivers.
In May 1865, Litchfield commanded a party of six others and 12 horses sent to examine the country around the
upper Adelaide River and Daly Ranges. They headed toward Chambers Bay and then veered southward. On the
upper reaches of the Adelaide River, on 18 May 1865, Litchfield cut his mark in the rocks on the east side of the
river. This was located by J T Manton on 3 December 1866.
Litchfield was very enthusiastic about the quality of the country he passed through. ‘I have seen none better
for cattle. Travelling through this part of the country is like travelling through a cultivated meadow, and parts of
it resemble very much the Oven’s diggings in Victoria. I am sure gold will be found around here.’ He found and
named Mounts Bennett, Dougall, Hunchback and Farrington and the Finniss River. On 23 May, the party turned
for home because the horses were knocking up and King was ill.
In July 1865, the Government Resident found a need of extra protection of the camp against the natives, so he
appointed Frederick Litchfield Acting Inspector of Police, his own son, Fred Finniss, Sergeant and five other men
as Constables. The men also were given a raise in pay. Litchfield was given command of another exploration party
in September 1865, this time to go as far as the Daly River and beyond, if possible. On the eighth day out the party
was again at the Finniss River, and Litchfield decided to prospect for gold. In half an hour, he had found a speck