Editing Ernest Giles (section)

== Early life ==
Ernest Giles was born in [[Bristol]], England, the eldest son<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207907915 |title=The Late Ernest Giles |newspaper=[[The Evening Journal (Adelaide)]] |volume=XXIX |issue=8422 |location=South Australia |date=16 November 1897 |access-date=19 July 2020 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> of William Giles ({{circa|1795}} – 28 May 1860), a merchant, and Jane Elizabeth Giles, ''née'' Powell ({{circa|1804}} – 15 March 1879).
Their family had been in comfortable circumstances but fell on hard times and emigrated to Australia. William Giles was living in [[North Adelaide, South Australia|North Adelaide]] by 1850<ref name=1850marriage/> and Melbourne by 1853.<ref name=death1853/> William was later employed by {{thinspace|H.|M.}} Customs in Victoria, and his wife founded a successful school for girls in that colony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87466812 |title=Mrs A. M. Stanton |newspaper=[[The Chronicle (Adelaide)]] |volume=LXXII |issue=3,822 |location=South Australia |date=19 December 1929 |access-date=19 July 2020 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} It is hard to substantiate the reference to a girls' school. [[Gertrude Halley]] was largely educated at the [[Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne|Presbyterian Ladies' College]]. The reference to the family's arrival after 1860 is hard to explain.</ref>

Giles was educated at [[Christ's Hospital]] school, Newgate, London.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53807228 |title=Cut among the People. |newspaper=[[The Register News-Pictorial]] |date=11 July 1930 |access-date=1 May 2012 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1850, at the age of 15, he emigrated to Australia, joining his parents in [[Adelaide]]. In 1852 Giles went to the [[Victoria (Australia)|Victorian]] goldfields, then became a clerk at the Post Office in Melbourne, and later at the County Court.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162384582 |title=Death of an Australian Explorer |newspaper=[[The Adelaide Observer]] |volume=LIV |issue=2,929 |location=South Australia |date=20 November 1897 |access-date=20 July 2020 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Soon tiring of town life Giles went to the back country and gained valuable experience as a bushman. In 1865, he explored north-west of the [[Darling River]] in the [[Yancannia Station|Yancannia]] Range looking for pastoral country and land capable of cultivating hemp, as it was valuable for rope at the time.