The Surveyor General of Victoria is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Victoria, Australia. The original duties for the Surveyor General was to measure and determine land grants for settlers in Victoria. The position was created at the time Victoria became a separate colony in 1851 (see History of Victoria).
The Surveyor-General of Victoria is the primary government authority on surveying and the cadastre (land property boundaries and tenure).[1]
The Surveying Act 2004, Act 47/2004, Part 6, specifies the appointment, suspension and functions of the Surveyor-General. Note that the act spells "Surveyor-General" with a hyphen, which is the conventional spelling.[2]
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List of Surveyors General of Victoria
| Surveyor General | Period in office | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Hoddle | 1851–1853 | Hoddle was appointed as the first Surveyor-General of Victoria on 15 July 1851. He became the Surveyor-General upon the proclamation of the Port Phillip District as the new Colony of Victoria within the British Empire on 1 July 1851. He was previously the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District from 1837 to 1851. He is especially recognized for the design and layout of the Hoddle Grid in 1837, the area which forms the Melbourne central business district (CBD).
Hoddle commenced his surveying career as cadet surveyor in the British army in 1812. Subsequently he worked for Ordnance Survey in Great Britain which included the country’s trigonometrical survey. Ordnance Survey was a military organization. In 1822, he was assigned to South Africa where he undertook military surveying for a short period, before he resigned and emigrated to the British colony of New South Wales in Australia in April 1823. Soon after arriving in the colony, he was appointed as an assistant surveyor under the Surveyor-General, John Oxley. His early work included surveying the road over the Blue Mountains. In 1824, he assisted Oxley with the initial survey and the establishment of the site of Brisbane as part of an expedition to Moreton Bay. Upon returning south, over he next twelve years, he worked on surveys of the districts in the Southern Highlands including Berrima and Goulburn. It is also notable that between 1830 and 1836, Hoddle undertook surveys of the rural district now occupied by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).[3][4][5] Hoddle was by any measure a consummate professional in matters of planning and development. As such, it is well reported that his outspoken criticism of the manner in which streets and highways had been allowed to develop, amongst other issues, was not well received by the colonial administration and by 1853, then Governor Charles La Trobe is reported to have eased him out to enable a much younger replacement, viz. Andrew Clarke. In effect, it would seem that La Trobe wanted a more compliant Surveyor-General who would follow his directions rather than question and speak out about what was wrong. Hoddle "retired" after less than two years as Surveyor-General, enabling his successor Clarke to commence in March 1853. Hoddle remained in Melbourne for the remainder of his life, passing away in October 1881 at 87 years of age.[6] On 16 July 2001, Victorian Governor John Landy unveiled a plaque outside of Melbourne's Docklands Stadium to honour Hoddle and commemorate the point of origin for the Survey of Melbourne, Batman's Hill Datum, which commenced in 1837. The plaque was commissioned by the Surveyors Board of Victoria, through the then Surveyor-General, Keith Clifford Bell, and in conjunction with the Docklands Authority, and the surveying profession of Victoria (i.e. the Institution of Surveyors Victoria).[7] |
| Sir Andrew Clarke GCMG CB CIE | 1853 – 1857 | Clarke was the youngest appointee to hold the office of the Surveyor-General of Victoria at 28 years of age in March 1853. At the time of being appointed Surveyor-General, Clarke held the rank of Captain in the British Army's Royal Engineers. Just 5 months later he was elected to Victoria's Legislative Council retaining the role of Surveyor-General and commencing a period where the office was held to be held by an elected politician rather than a public servant.
A major focus of Clarke's term as Surveyor-General was that he was responsible for much of the planning of Victoria's first railways. In March 1857, and upon stepping down as Surveyor-General, Clarke returned to England and sought other colonial posts. Clarke was later to be promoted to Lieutenant General during his distinguished career. Clarke served as the second Governor of Singapore and the Governor of the Straits Settlements from 4 November 1873 until 7 May 1875. Clarke played a key role in positioning Singapore as the main port for the Malay states of Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong. Clarke was awarded multiple honours which included: Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), 1869; Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), 1873; Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE), 1877; and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), 1885. |
| George Samuel Wegg Horne | March – April 1857 | Horne was a lawyer and politician rather than a surveyor. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Belfast and Warrnambool in September 1854, a position he held until March 1856. In November 1856 Horne was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Electoral district of Warrnambool and he resigned in February 1861. Horne also contested the seats of Kilmore in 1853 and Rodney in 1856. From 11 March 1857 to 29 April 1857 Horne was Commissioner Crown Lands and Survey and also teh Surveyor-General of Victoria. In addition to having the shortest tenure as Surveyor -General of just seven weeks, he was the last Surveyor-General of Victoria to be a politician rather than a public servant. Horne was also commissioner of Public Works from 21 December 1858 to 27 October 1859. After politics, Horne resumed work as an attorney and practised in Melbourne before moving to New Zealand in 1867. |
| George Christian Darbyshire | 1857 | Darbyshire was a civil engineer and migrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne in July 1853 where he was appointed as Engineer of Construction and District Surveyor under the Victorian Government at Williamstown. He was then appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the Victorian Railways, from April 1856 to May 1860, but did so on the condition that he retained his substantive appointment as District Surveyor Williamstown and could return to that at any time. His term at Victorian Railways was interrupted when he was recruited by Surveyor-General Clarke to the Survey Department to lead railway engineering surveys in early 1857. Clarke departed in March 1857. However, the position of Surveyor-General may have remained vacant until July 1857. Darbyshire acted as Deputy Surveyor General from May to July 1857 and then acted as the Surveyor-General until October 1857. Thereafter he returned to his substantive position as District Surveyor Williamstown.
In the 1860s and 1870s, Darbyshire was a licensed surveyor undertaking township and rural surveys for Government and private practice. He was responsible for the Town Plan of Lorne in 1871. Darbyshire was a Member of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors (VIS).[8] In 1881, Darbyshire returned to Victorian Railways as Engineer for Construction and Surveys, laying out many new lines. In 1891, he again became Chief Engineer of Victorian Railways, after the incumbent died. Darbyshire remained Chief Engineer until his own death in 1898, aged seventy-seven. |
| Clement Hodgkinson | 1857–1858 | Hodgkinson was appointed acting Surveyor-General in October 1857 and held the position until March 1858 when Charles Ligar was appointed. Hodgkinson was then appointed as Deputy Surveyor-General. After reorganization in 1860, he became assistant commissioner and secretary of the new Board of Crown Lands and Survey. Hodgkinson also designed Fitzroy Gardens and Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne. [9] |
| Charles Whybrow Ligar | 1858–1869 | Ligar earlier served as the Surveyor General of New Zealand 1841-1856 [10] |
| Alexander John Skene | 1869–1886 | Skene, from Scotland, arrived in Melbourne in 1839, and held a number of government surveyor roles including that of being in charge of the District Survey Office at Geelong until he was transferred to the Melbourne district office in 1862. In June 1863, he was appointed District Surveyor for the newly united Melbourne and Geelong districts. In September 1868, he was appointed as acting Surveyor-General during the incumbent Ligar’s leave of absence. One year later, September 1869, Skene was appointed as the Surveyor-General. To date, Skene has been the longest serving Surveyor-General of Victoria with almost seventeen years in office.
In the broader cartographic field, he was a prime mover in the compilation of the first comprehensive and reliable map of Victoria, produced in 1876 on a scale of eight miles to the inch, and also one of the most accurate of the early maps of Australia, first published in 1880.[11] Skene gave evidence in June 1879 before the 1878-79 Royal Commission on crown lands, and under his guidance impressive county maps of Victoria were prepared for the detailed operation of the revised Land Regulations of the 1880s. Skene was also a commissioner of land tax, appointed in 1878, while Surveyor-General and after retiring as Surveyor-General and reappointed as a commissioner of land tax in 1887, continuing in that role until his death in 1894. In 1887 he was a member of the royal commission on the extension of Melbourne westward.[12] Skene was invited to be the inaugural President of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors (VIS), now known as the Institution of Surveyors Victoria (ISV) in 1874. However, due to the pressing demands of being Surveyor-General, had to decline. This resultd in Robert L. J. Ellery being appointed VIS President for the period 1874-77. Skene was a Member of VIS and did go on to serve as VIS President at a later time as reported by the Institute.[13][14] |
| Alexander Black | 1886–1892 | Black's work included the survey of the Black-Allan Line[15]Black was the second President of VIS, 1878-80. Black was elected Fellow of VIS in 1880.[16][17][18] |
| Michael Callanan | 1894–1895 | Callanan was a Member of VIS.[19] |
| Samuel Kingston Vickery | 1895–1899 | Vickery was a Fellow of VIS.[20][21] |
| Joseph Martin Reed ISO | 1899–1914 | Reed was awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1903 for service as Victorian Surveyor General;[22] Reed was probably the first Australian-born and indeed Victorian-born Surveyor General of Victoria, born in Creswick 1857. Reed became Secretary of Lands and retired from that position and 43 years of service with the Victorian Public Service in July 1918. Reed was the first Surveyor-General to be promoted to Secretary of Lands. He was a Fellow of VIS.[23] [24] |
| Alexander Bruce Lang | 1914–1925 | |
| George Stewart Pinniger | 1925–1926 | |
| Fenelon De la Motte Mott | 1926–1928 | Mott served previously as District Surveyor, Bairnsdale, Victoria, 1913–26. He surveyed a large part of the backcountry of East Gippsland and also presented valuable reports in regard to suitable harbours along its coasts. Mott Street, HOLDER, ACT, which was gazetted on 21 Oct 1971, is named in his honour.[25] |
| Albert Edward W. Tobin | 1928–1932 | |
| Peter Campbell | 1932–1935 | |
| Henry William Moore | 1935–1938 | |
| Oscar George Pearson | 1938–1952 | Pearson served in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War from June 1916 and was discharged in October 1919.[26] |
| Frank William Arter | 1952–1967 | Arter was a Fellow of VIS since the 1940s and a longstanding member of VIS.[27] |
| Colin Edward Middleton ISO | 1967–1972 | Following his service as Surveyor-General, Middleton was later appointed Secretary of Lands. Middleton was one of only two Surveyor-Generals to be promoted to Secretary of Lands. (The other was Reed.) He was awarded the Imperial Service Order in the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours for service as Secretary of the Victoria Crown Lands Department [28] Middleton also served with the Royal Australian Survey Corps during World War 2, enlisting in 1940 and discharged in 1945. Middleton was appointed a Fellow of ISV upon its incorporation in 2007, having been a Fellow of the former ISA since 1969. ISV continues to honour the contributions of Middleton to surveying with the annual Colin Middleton Lunch.[29][30] |
| John Eric Mitchell | 1972–1979 | |
| Raymond Eden Holmes AM | 1979–1988 | In 1994, The University of Melbourne awarded Homes a Doctorate of Surveying Honoris Causa for his services to the surveying profession in Victoria and The University of Melbourne[31] Following his retirement as Surveyor General, Holmes worked as a consultant to both the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as an expert adviser on land administration.[32] Holmes was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to surveying and mapping, and to professional organisations".[33] Holmes is also acknowledged for his recovery in July 2007 of artefacts from the Burke and Wills expedition, which he donated to the State Library of Victoria.[34]Holmes was President of ISV in 1975 and in 2016 received a certificate from ISV for seventy years of membership. He was appointed a Honorary Fellow of ISV upon its incorporation in 2007, having been a appointed a Fellow of ISA in February 1977 and Honorary Fellow of ISA in April 1988.[35][36] |
| Robert Arthur Eddington | 1988-89 | Appointed Acting Surveyor General and Director of Mapping under the Department of Property and Services.[37] |
| John Richard Parker | 1989–1997 | Following his service, Parker was appointed the Registrar of Geographic Names Victoria 1998-2000. He was also the Chair of the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA) and Chairman of the Asia South-East, Pacific South-West Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)[38] For his work on Toponymy, the study of place names, and support for the Australian Place Names Project of Macquarie University's Linguistics Dept, he was appointed as an Honorary Professor in Linguistics. Parker also chaired Commission 1, Professional Standards and Practice, of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) for the 1998–2002 term. He has also consulted as an expert adviser on land administration to the World Bank.[39] |
| Barrie Bremner and Alan Fennell | 1997–1999 | Bremner and Fennell acted in the position of Surveyor-General during this period. Bremner was appointed a Fellow of ISV in 2013.[40][41] |
| Keith Clifford Bell AM RFD | 1999–2003 | In 2003, RMIT University awarded Bell a Doctorate of Applied Science Honoris Causa for leadership of change in land administration governance, geospatial sciences, and surveying in Australia. Following his service as Surveyor General, Bell joined the staff of the World Bank. His international development service has been recognized with several awards including the Medal of the Order of Merit (Vietnam, 2017) and the High State Medal of Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan (Afghanistan, 2018). In 2021, the University of Melbourne presented Bell with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Bell was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia) for "significant service to surveying, to geospatial information, and to humanitarian operations." Bell was appointed a Fellow of ISV upon its incorporation in 2007, having been a Fellow of the former ISA since 2000. Bell was appointed a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1999 and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2011. [42][43] |
| John Ernest Tulloch | 2003–2017 | |
| Craig Leslie Sandy | 2017–present | On 1 May 2014, Sandy was appointed Surveyor-General for the Northern Territory of Australia, a role he held until his appointment in Victoria.[44][45] In 2015, Sandy was elected to the role of Chair of the Council of Reciprocating Surveyors Boards of Australia and New Zealand, a role he held until March 2020. In 2019, Sandy was awarded the Asia Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards (APSEA), Spatial Professional of the Year for Victoria, and in 2020 he became the Oceanic APSEA Spatial Professional of the Year for 2019.<ref>[1] In March 2020, Sandy was appointed as Chair of the Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM), following a term as co-deputy Chair.<ref>[2] |
References
- ^ "About the Surveyor-General of Victoria". The State of Victoria. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
- ^ "Surveying Act 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ Robert Hoddle (1794–1881), Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hoddle-robert-2190
- ^ Surveyor General's Department, Port Phillip Branch (also known as the Melbourne Survey Office),https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/VA943
- ^ Book, Robert Hoddle: pioneer surveyor 1794-1881, 2004,https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5bd901fea1feee3080d08261
- ^ Robert Hoddle (1794–1881), Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hoddle-robert-2190
- ^ Plaque Batman's Hill Datum, 16 July 2001,https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/batman-s-hill-datum
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1874-1880, https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ezI_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Nunn, H. W. "Hodgkinson, Clement (1818–1893)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- ^ Powell, J. M. "Ligar, Charles Whybrow (1811–1881)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- ^ Powell, J. M. "Skene, Alexander John (1820–1894)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- ^ Alexander John Skene (1820–1894), Australian Dictionary of Biography, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/skene-alexander-john-4587
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1874-1880, Vol 1, https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ezI_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1885-1891, Vol 2,https://books.google.co.th/books?id=sjI_AQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Nunn, H. W. (1969). "Black, Alexander (1827–1897)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australia: Melbourne University Press.
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P006129b.htm#related
- ^ The Argus, 31 March 1880, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5980391
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1874-1880, https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ezI_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1874-1880, https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ezI_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ Obituary 2 June 1899,https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/267821617
- ^ Victorian Institute of Surveyors, Transactions and Proceedings 1874-1880, https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ezI_AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA85&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ^ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
- ^ "Joseph Martin Reed"
- ^ Reed, Streets of Melbourne,https://streetsofsouthmelbourne.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/reed/
- ^ http://www.planning.act.gov.au/tools_resources/place_search/place_search3?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkYyMDMuOS4yNDkuMyUyRlBsYWNlTmFtZXMlMkZQbGFjZURldGFpbHMuYXNweCUzRm9iamVjdElEJTNEOTA1MSZhbGw9MQ%3D%3D[dead link]
- ^ https://Land Victoria Roll of Honour, //www.land.vic.gov.au/about-land-use-victoria/roll-of-honour
- ^ VIS Report of Meeting, 26 April 1946, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00050326.1946.10436924
- ^ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
- ^ http://www.rasurvey.org/ACTNewsletters/No%2010%20National%20Bulletin%20Survey%20Corps%20Assocs%20-%20September%201974.pdf
- ^ Obituary for Colin Edward Middleton ISO (20/7/1920 – 20/4/2015) Traverse Sep 2015, https://surveying.org.au/traverse/#toggle-id-28
- ^ "University Secretar's Department : University Calendar - Honoris Causa Degrees : The University of Melbourne". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
- ^ "Keynote" (PDF). admin.surveyorsboard.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ "Member (AM) In the General Division of the Order of Australia"
- ^ The World Today Alison Caldwell (19 April 2010). "Burke and Wills spirit level donated to State Library". ABC News. Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
- ^ ISV Traverse 308, August 2016, https://surveying.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TRAV308.pdf
- ^ ISV Traverse 321, March 2019, pp.6-7, https://surveying.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Traverse-321.pdf
- ^ Institution of Surveyors, Victoria, 2001, Report on Sesquicentenary of the Surveyor-General of Victoria, Traverse September 2001
- ^ "Eighth United Nations Conference on theStandardization of Geographical Names" (PDF). unstats.un.org. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ Parker, John (2002). "FIG Commission 1 (Professional Standards and Practice)Report on Activities 1998 – 2002" (PDF). www.fig.net. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
- ^ Traverse 320, Dec 2018, VALE Barrie William Bremner 1945-2018,https://surveying.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Traverse-320.pdf
- ^ Traverse-291, https://surveying.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TRAV291.pdf
- ^ Queen's Birthday Honours List, 13 June 2022, https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-06/20220612_OoA%20Gazette.pdf
- ^ Award ID 2011559, Queen's Birthday Honours List, 13 June 2022, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2011559
- ^ https://surveyorsboard.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/576455/Annual-Report-2015-2016.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ^ https://surveyorsboard.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/576456/Annual-Report-2016-2017.pdf[bare URL PDF]
Sources
- Lists of British, Australian and New Zealand Surveyors-General, Government Geologists... Retrieved 5 September 2016
- Australian Dictionary of Biography Surveyor-General search Retrieved 14 June 2012
This page was last edited on 18 March 2024, at 12:47