Edmund Kennedy

Who was Edmund Kennedy?

Edmund Besley Court Kennedy J. P. 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 and Mary Ann 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.