Ben Nicker
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Benjamin Esmond Nicker (3 March 1908 – 19 April 1941) was an Australian explorer raised in Central Australia. In 1923, at 15, Nicker crossed the Tanami Desert solo and, in 1932 and 1933 he guided the expeditions of Michael Terry through the Gibson Desert.[1][2]
Nicker was the son of Elizabeth and Sam Nicker who arrived at the Arltunga goldfields in the Northern Territory in 1903, after a two-year journey through the centre, by which time the output of gold had already diminished. This disappointed the two and, rather than mine Sam purchased a wagon from a "disgruntled quitter" and delivered water to the miners whilst Elizabeth started a market garden and herded feral goats for milk, meat and useful skins.[1]
By 1908, when Nicker was born, the family had moved, a little north of Arltunga, to establish what would become The Garden station which would provide produce, on a larger scale the Elizabeth's market garden, to the Arltunga and Winnecke Depot goldfields.[1]
In 1914 they uprooted again when Sam purchased the lease on Ryan's Well, near Aileron, where the family operated a cattle station and supplemented their income by operating the well for travelling stock and operating as a post and telegraph office.[3]
It was at Ryan's Well, which the family called Glen Maggie, that Nicker developed a relationship with the passing Afghan Cameleers and one of them, Sadiq, gifted Nicker with an orphaned camel calf and he spent a lot of time training the camel and exploring the station.[1]
