Extract date: 04/06/2026
| Name | Colson |
|---|---|
| Type Designation | Street |
| Place Id | 5700 |
| Place Type | Road |
| Status | Registered |
| Date Registered | 31 March 1999 |
| Locality / Suburb | |
| Alice Springs | |
| Local Government Area | |
| Alice Springs Town Council | |
| History/Origin | Edmund Albert (Ted) Colson was a bushman, pastoralist, and explorer recognised as the first person of European descent to successfully cross the Simpson Desert. He was born on 3 June 1881 near Quorn in South Australia, at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges. Colson was the eldest of eight children in a family of Swedish descent. Before his 15th birthday in 1896, he and his father travelled by sea to Esperance in Western Australia, and then walked 150 miles to the Norseman gold-rush district. Over the following decade, Colson gained practical experience in prospecting, mining, timber work, and engine driving. In 1904, he married Alice Jane Horne in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The couple moved to Victoria in 1917, where Colson worked in construction before starting a transport business between Healesville and Melbourne in 1926. In 1927, Colson moved to South Australia to work on a railway project between Oodnadatta and Alice Springs. Over the next few years, he travelled extensively in Central Australia and built a strong rapport with the local Aboriginal people. In 1930, he acted as a guide and camel handler on expeditions to the Petermann and Tomkinson Ranges led by explorer Michael Terry. In 1931, Colson took up the lease of Bloods Creek station, northwest of Oodnadatta, where he ran sheep and operated a local store. Although the Simpson Desert had been explored sporadically since the mid-1800s, no European had crossed it on foot. After a season of good rains in 1936, Colson planned his crossing. He set out on 27 May from Mount Etingamba, 53 miles north of Bloods Creek, accompanied by a single Aboriginal companion, Eringa Peter. They travelled east along the 26th parallel, carrying provisions for two months, a compass, and maps. The journey involved crossing about 140 miles of unknown desert terrain, negotiating over a thousand sand ridges. They reached Birdsville on 11 June. The return journey began three days later. After 36 days and almost 600 miles, Colson and Peter arrived back at Bloods Creek on 29 June 1936. Following the crossing, Colson established the Colson Trading Company in Finke (now Aputula) in the Northern Territory, where he ran a store and hotel and became a respected community leader. In 1948, he organised the first horse race meeting for the Finke Amateur Racing Club. Tragically, on 27 February 1950, Colson died in a car accident near Balaklava, South Australia. Source: Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Ted Colson. Wikipedia. Retrieved June 18, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Colson |
| Date | Gazettal | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 02/04/1958 | NTG14 | |
| 31/03/1999 | NTG12 | Revocation of 2/04/1958 gazettal and regazetted due to site redevelopment |