{{Short description|Australian writer}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}
'''Charles Whitham''' was an Australian writer. He wrote the oft-reprinted ''Western Tasmania: A land of Riches and Beauty'', which was a comprehensive study of the geographical features of [[West Coast, Tasmania]] and the conditions of the region in the 1920s.
==Early life== Charles Whitham was born in India in 1873. He and his parents travelled to Tasmania in 1886.
His first book was published in 1917.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Whitham, Charles | author2=Mount Lyell Tourist Association | title=The book of Mount Lyell and the Gordon: a land of riches and beauty | publication-date=1917 | publisher=Mount Lyell Tourist Association | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19267333 | access-date=20 June 2015 }}</ref>
==''Western Tasmania''== The book was originally published in 1924<ref>{{Citation | author1=Whitham, Charles | author2=Mount Lyell Tourist Association | title=Western Tasmania: a land of riches and beauty | publication-date=1924 | publisher=Mount Lyell Tourist Association | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12518157 | access-date=20 June 2015 }}</ref> and reprinted in 1949<ref>{{Citation | author1=Whitham, Charles | author2=Robert Sticht Memorial Library. Board of Management | title=Western Tasmania: a land of riches and beauty | publication-date=1949 | publisher=Board of Management, Robert Sticht Memorial Library | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12518157 | access-date=20 June 2015 }}</ref> and in 1984.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Whitham, Charles | title=Western Tasmania: a land of riches and beauty | publication-date=1984 | publisher=Municipality of Queenstown | url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12518157 | access-date=20 June 2015 }}</ref> Extracts from the book were reproduced in ''[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]]'' in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24896396 |title=WEST COAST NEWS |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CXXXIX |issue=((20,615)) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 September 1933 |access-date=23 April 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The book is a mix of geographical and historical information about the west coast, and includes sections on [[Macquarie Harbour]] and the [[Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company]]. Whitham had personally travelled to many of the locations and features that he described as well as to most of the peaks of the [[West Coast Range]]. His photographs in the [[State Library of Tasmania]] attest to some of the places that he had visited.
It was not until the writing of [[Geoffrey Blainey]]'s ''[[The Peaks of Lyell]]'' in the 1950s that the history and geography of the west coast of Tasmania was thoroughly reviewed and showed the important contribution of Whitham's earlier work.
A collection of articles by Whitham was collected by Kleinig in the 2000s.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Whitham, Charles | author2=Kleinig, Simon | title=Rambles in Western Tasmania: articles by Charles Whitham, 1912 to 1924 | publication-date=2010 | publisher=Tasmanian Historical Research Association | isbn=978-0-909479-25-1 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Felton, Ken | title=Rambles in Western Tasmania: Articles by Charles Whitham 1912-1924 [Book Review] | journal=Papers and Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association | publication-date=2011 | volume=58 | issue=3 | pages=236–237 | issn=0039-9809}}</ref>
==Later life and death== Whitham moved to Sydney in the 1920s, and died there in December 1940.<ref>''The Author'' p.iv of the 1949 and 1984 editions of ''Western Tasmania''</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25839470 |title=OBITUARY Mr. Charles Whitham |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |volume=CLII |issue=21,862 |location=Tasmania|date=21 December 1940 |access-date=24 November 2016 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68395664 |title=OBITUARY |newspaper=[[The Advocate (Tasmania)|The Advocate (Australia)]] |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=19 December 1940 |accessdate=24 September 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060821154700/http://images.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/Search/Search.asp?Letter=W&Creator=Whitham%2C+Charles Charles Whitham photographs - online at State Library of Tasmania] {{Western Tasmania}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitham, Charles}} [[Category:Books about Tasmania]] [[Category:Western Tasmania]]