Thomas Griffith "Grif" Taylor (1 December 1880 – 5 November 1963) was an English-born geographer, anthropologist, explorer, and academic. He was a survivor of Captain Robert Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica (1910–1913). Taylor was a senior academic geographer at universities in Sydney, Chicago, and Toronto.
Early life and education Thomas Griffith Taylor was born in the town of Walthamstow, England, to parents James Taylor, a metallurgical chemist, and Lily Agnes, née Griffiths. Within a year after his birth, the family had moved to Serbia, where his father was manager of a copper mine. Three years later, they returned to Britain when his father became director of analytical chemistry for a major steelworks company. In 1893, the family emigrated to New South Wales Australia, where James secured a position as a government metallurgist. Taylor, age 13, attended The King's School in Sydney. He enrolled in arts at the University of Sydney in 1899, later transferring to science, attaining his Bachelor of Science in 1904, and Bachelor of Engineering (mining and metallurgy) in 1905. After becoming interested in geology and geography under Professor Edgeworth David, in 1903 he published a geological paper on Mittagong, New South Wales, with fellow science student and friend Douglas Mawson.
Early academic career and further study In 1904 Taylor joined the teaching staff at Newington College in Sydney, but was not happy there. He became a demonstrator at Sydney University under Professor David, and in 1906 published his first paper on climatology. In February 1906 he accompanied Mawson and English geologist Walter Howchin on a trip to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, which led to Mawson's first work about South Australian geology, submitted to the state government in March 1906. Taylor's research on this expedition, which focused on the Ajax Mine Fossil Reef, led to two published papers on Archaeocyatha, in 1908 and 1910, the latter being a landmark paleontological monograph, in which he acknowledges the work of Mawson and Howchin. In 1907, Taylor was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a B.A. [Research]. He was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1909. While at Cambridge, he established strong friendships with (Sir) Raymond Priestley, Canada's Charles Wright, and the Australian Frank Debenham, who all shared his passion for Antarctic exploration and would all travel with him to the Antarctic as part of the Terra Nova Expedition of 1910–1913. Taylor's physiographical and geomorphological Antarctic research earned him a doctorate (D.Sc.) from the University of Sydney in 1916.
Antarctic expedition
The explorer Robert Falcon Scott contracted Taylor to the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica. Scott was looking for an experienced team, and appointed Taylor as Senior Geologist. It was agreed that Taylor would act as representative for the weather service, due to the known effects of Antarctic weather conditions on Australia's climate.
Taylor was the leader of the successful geological team, responsible for the first maps and geological interpretations of significant areas of Antarctica. In January 1911, he led an expedition to the coastal area west of McMurdo Sound, in a region between the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the Koettlitz Glacier. He led a second successful expedition in November 1911, this time centering on the Granite Harbour region approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of Butter Point. Meanwhile, Scott led a party of five on a journey to the South Pole, in a race to get there before a rival expedition led by Norwegian Roald Amundsen. They reached the Pole in January 1912, only to find a tent left there by Amundsen containing a dated message informing them that he had reached the Pole 5 weeks earlier. Scott's entire team perished during the return journey, only 11 miles from safety. Taylor's party was due to be picked up by the Terra Nova supply ship on 15 January 1912, but the ship could not reach them. They waited until 5 February before trekking southward, and were rescued from the ice when they were finally spotted by the ship on 18 February. Taylor left Antarctica in March 1912 on board the Terra Nova, unaware of the fate of Scott's polar party. Geological specimens from both Western Mountains expeditions were retrieved by Terra Nova in January 1913. Later that year, Taylor was awarded the King's Polar Medal and made a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London.
Taylor's physiographical and geomorphological Antarctic research earned him a doctorate (D.Sc.) from the University of Sydney in 1916. He was made associate professor of geography in 1921 becoming the founding head of the Department of Geography at the university. Taylor did not completely agree with the Australian Government's White Australia policy, which sought to limit immigrants to whites only. Taylor argued that Australia's agricultural resources were limited, and that this, together with other environmental factors, meant that Australia would not be able to support the population goal of 100 million which some optimistically predicted. Moreover, he claimed that due to climatic factors, the interior of Australia would be best settled by broad-headed Mongoloids who were better adapted to the environment. He was severely criticised as unpatriotic for his views on Australia's future development. A textbook he had written containing these views was banned from schools by the Western Australian education authority. Taylor was a proponent of environmental determinism with the view that "physical environment determines culture." In 1927, he became the first President of the Geographical Society of New South Wales.
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