Charles Edward Douglas (1 July 1840 – 23 May 1916) was a New Zealand surveyor and explorer, who came to be known as Mr. Explorer Douglas, owing to his extensive explorations of the West Coast of New Zealand and his work for the New Zealand Survey Department. He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Gill Memorial Prize in 1897.
Early life and education
Douglas was born on 1 July 1840, in Edinburgh, Scotland, the youngest of six children, to parents Martha Brook and James Douglas. His eldest brother was William Fettes Douglas. His father was an accountant with the Commercial Bank of Scotland. Charlie Douglas was educated at the Royal High School and worked at the accountant's office of the Commercial Bank of Scotland from 1857 to 1862. He emigrated to New Zealand, arriving in Port Chalmers in 1862.
For five years, Douglas worked at a variety of jobs, including working on a sheep run, and gold digging. He moved to Ōkārito, Westland, in 1867.
Exploration
For 40 years Douglas explored and surveyed the West Coast Region of New Zealand. He was described as heavily bearded and with a slight frame, standing about in height. He was accompanied throughout his years of exploration by a dog, first "Topsy", then "Betsey Jane" and others. During the colonial period of New Zealand, drowning in rivers was so commonplace before bridges had been built that it became known as the 'New Zealand death'. Douglas could not swim, and he once claimed that this fact "had saved his life many a time", implying that he would not enter rivers when it was risky.
When exploring Douglas carried little in the way of equipment beyond some basic provisions, including tobacco for his beloved pipe, and a swag. He camped beneath his two piece "batwing" tent of canvas or calico or crude rock shelters. He supplemented his food stocks by hunting native birds and living off the land. Although Douglas lived simply he supported himself by occasional paid work, supplemented by some infrequent provisions sent by his family in Scotland, who also supplied him with some of the books that he read avidly. He worked for a part-time wage from the survey department for 20 years before becoming a full-time employee from 1889.
Douglas was a quiet, shy man, who was noted for his keen, accurate and entertaining observations relating to flora, fauna (particularly birds) and geology in his journals, sketches, watercolours and survey reports. Later in his life he grew increasingly intolerant of tourists who were unwilling or unable to endure the hardships he experienced. Douglas condemned the changes to the natural landscape he saw occurring in Westland and he became increasingly embittered as old age and illness began to curtail his later explorations. When he was not exploring he was known to be a heavy drinker.
1868–1888
During this 20-year period, both Gerhard Mueller and George John Roberts attempted to employ Douglas full-time at the survey department, but he instead sent in voluntary reports and maps of the rugged Westland valleys that he tramped and explored and earned a part-time wage while exploring for the department.
In 1868, Douglas accompanied Julius von Haast on a month-long expedition travelling down the West Coast, making stops and exploring at: Ōkārito, Bruce Bay, Paringa and Arnott Point before returning to Ōkārito. It is probable that Douglas learned something of geology from Haast at this time because he used Haast's terminology in his later geological notes.
During 1874, Douglas met George Roberts and formed a friendship that was to lead to his growing involvement with the New Zealand Survey Department. Also in 1874, Douglas formed a partnership with Bob Ward and the two men bought of land on the Paringa River and began cattle farming. The pair also operated a ferry service across the Paringa. Douglas gave up cattle farming after his partner, Ward, drowned in 1881. After his time as a cattle farmer, Douglas abandoned a settled life and began to tramp and explore Westland, picking up odd-jobs as he needed them.
From a base in Jackson Bay starting in the 1870s Douglas continued to explore the: Paringa River (1874–1877), Haast River (1880) and Landsborough River, Blue River (1881), Turnbull River (1882), Okuru River (1882) and associated passes the Actor and Maori (1883), Cascade River with Mueller (1883) and Arawhata River (1883), travelling with Mueller and Roberts on the "Reconnaissance Survey" from Jackson Bay to Martins Bay (1884).