Climbing with Darwin

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whynotwalk
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Climbing with Darwin

Sun 25 Sep, 2011 6:25 pm

Kunanyi3.jpg
Did you know Charles Darwin climbed to the summit of Mt Wellington? Actually he only got up on his second attempt - in 1836. It got me thinking, in my latest blog post here http://auntyscuttle.blogspot.com/2011/09/climbing-with-darwin.html

cheers

Peter
mjdalessa
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Re: Climbing with Darwin

Sun 25 Sep, 2011 7:09 pm

Wheres the photo taken from?
Swifty
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Re: Climbing with Darwin

Mon 26 Sep, 2011 1:51 am

Thanks for that Peter.
The man was a genius and is one of my heroes. His egalitarian attitudes were way ahead of his times. I've just downloaded his autobiography and Voyage of the Beagle to my kindle, great reading.
I knew he had been to the top of Wellington and that he wasn't too impressed with Hobart! As it was at that time as you point out...
I'd never thought of him in the terms that you suggest (his quintessence - apologies to Marcus - lingering among the Dicksonia), but his greatest legacy surrounds us in his as-yet-to-be-disproven theory.
Cheers
Swifty
Edit - PS.Peter, can you confirm the rumour that Mt Darwin (and Mt Huxley) were deliberately chosen as names for the lesser peaks on the West Coast as a deliberate slur to these two fine men, due to what cartographers saw as un-Christian attitudes? Owen and Murchison were chosen for the larger peaks, good Christians both! Just a rumour I heard...
Nuts
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Re: Climbing with Darwin

Mon 26 Sep, 2011 8:38 am

Maybe he got started pondering theories of evolution after meeting the towns folk :lol: er..
whynotwalk
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Re: Climbing with Darwin

Mon 26 Sep, 2011 9:24 am

mjdalessa wrote:Wheres the photo taken from?


I was trying out my new telephoto lens in my own yard, in South Hobart. Strange to think of Darwin wandering through here 135 years ago!

And thanks Swifty for the comments. I can't confirm the Mt Darwin or Mt Huxley stories ... but should point out that Darwin considered himself a Christian, albeit one with ideas that would challenge the accepted dogma of those who carried that label.

cheers

Peter
Swifty
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Re: Climbing with Darwin

Tue 27 Sep, 2011 1:44 am

whynotwalk wrote:Darwin considered himself a Christian


Before he turned forty (that would be 1849), he certainly says he did, but he did change / lose this belief over time, so in his old age he wasn't one. It's all in his autobiography!
So I guess the one on Mt Wellington does consider himself a Christian :wink:
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