Jess Young
Encyclopedia
Ernest Giles
William Ernest Powell Giles , best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led three major expeditions in central Australia.- Early life :...
during his fourth expedition, making some important botanical
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
collections along the way.
Little is known of his early life; it is not even certain whether "Jess" was a full given name or an abbreviation. In May 1875 Giles, in listing the members of his expedition party, referred to him as "Mr Jess Young, a young friend of Sir Thomas Elder
Thomas Elder
Sir Thomas Elder GCMG was a Scottish-Australian pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder and public figure...
, lately arrived from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
." Giles' party left Beltana
Beltana, South Australia
Beltana is a semi-ghost town north of Adelaide, South Australia. Beltana is known for continuing to exist long after the reasons for its existence had ceased...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
on 6 May, and arrived in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
on 13 November. During the expedition, Young collected the specimens of a number of new plant species, including Eucalyptus salubris
Eucalyptus salubris
Eucalyptus salubris, commonly known as Gimlet, Fluted Gum Tree, Gimlet Gum and Silver-topped Gimlet, is a gum tree endemic to low-rainfall areas of the wheatbelt and goldfields regions of Western Australia.-Description:...
, Eucalyptus youngiana
Eucalyptus youngiana
Eucalyptus youngiana, commonly known as Large-fruited Mallee, Ooldea Mallee and Yarldarlba, is a tree that occurs in arid and semi-arid areas of southern Western Australia and South Australia.-Description:...
and Eremophila youngii
Eremophila youngii
Eremophila youngii is a species of shrub that occurs in arid and semi-arid areas of Western Australia.-Description:It is a shrub or small tree from one to 5.4 metres high...
, all from the vicinity of Queen Victoria Spring. The latter two species were later named in Young's honour.
Not much is known of Young's life following his expedition with Giles, but the National Herbarium in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
has specimens of Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
collected by him between 1875 and 1880. In 1878, he published an account of his expedition in Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, describing himself as "Astronomer of the Giles Expedition".