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]

List of Surveyors General of Victoria

Surveyor GeneralPeriod in officeNotes
Robert Hoddle1851–1853Hoddle is the creator of the Hoddle Grid of central Melbourne; Between 1830 and 1836, Hoddle undertook surveys of the rural district now occupied by the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.).
Sir Andrew Clarke GCMG CB CIE1853 – March 1857Clarke was responsible for much of the planning of Victoria's first railways; 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. Following his service in Victoria, 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's was awarded 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 HorneMarch – April 1857Horne 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, he resigned in February 1861. Horne also contested the seats of Kilmore in 1853 and Rodney in 1856.[1] From 11 March 1857 to 29 April 1857 Horne was Commissioner Crown Lands and Survey and Surveyor General of Victoria. As such he was the last Surveyor General of Victoria to be a politician rather than a public servant; he 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 Darbyshire1857Darbyshire was also Chief Engineer of the Victorian Railways in 1856-57 and again 1891-1898
Clement Hodgkinson1857–1858Hodgkinson also designed Fitzroy Gardens and Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne. He was appointed acting surveyor-general in October 1857, and deputy to the surveyor-general, Charles Ligar, in March 1858. After reorganization in 1860, he became assistant commissioner and secretary of the new Board of Crown Lands and Survey [3]
Charles Whybrow Ligar1858–1869Ligar earlier served as the Surveyor General of New Zealand 1841-1856 [4]
Alexander John Skene1869–1886Skene 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. 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.[5]
Alexander Black1886–1892Black's work included the survey of the Black-Allan Line[6]
Michael Callanan1894–1895
Samuel Kingston Vickery1895–1899
Joseph Martin Reed ISO1899–1914Reed was awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1903 for service as Victorian Surveyor General;[7] 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.[8]
Alexander Bruce Lang1914–1925
George Stewart Pinniger1925–1926
Fenelon De la Motte Mott1926–1928Mott 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.[9]
Albert Edward W. Tobin1928–1932
Peter Campbell1932–1935
Henry William Moore1935–1938
Oscar George Pearson1938–1952Pearson served in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War from June 1916 and was discharged in October 1919.[10]
Frank William Arter1952–1967
Colin Edward Middleton ISO1967–1972Following 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 [11] Middleton also served with the Royal Australian Survey Corps during World War 2, enlisting in 1940 and discharged in 1945. The Institution of Surveyors Victoria (ISV) continues to honour the contributions of Middleton to surveying with the annual Colin Middleton Lunch.[12][13]
John Eric Mitchell1972–1979
Raymond Eden Holmes AM1979–1988In 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[14] 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.[15] 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".[16] 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.[17]
John Richard Parker1989–1997Following 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)[18] 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.[19]
Barrie Bremner and Alan Fennell1997–1999Bremner and Fennell acted in the position of Surveyor-General during this period.
Keith Clifford Bell AM RFD1999–2003In 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."[20][21]
John Ernest Tulloch2003–2017
Craig Leslie Sandy2017–presentOn 1 May 2014, Sandy was appointed Surveyor-General for the Northern Territory of Australia, a role he held until his appointment in Victoria.[22][23] 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> 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>

References

  1. ↑ "About the Surveyor-General of Victoria". The State of Victoria. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "Surveying Act 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  3. ↑ Nunn, H. W. "Hodgkinson, Clement (1818–1893)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  4. ↑ Powell, J. M. "Ligar, Charles Whybrow (1811–1881)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  5. ↑ Powell, J. M. "Skene, Alexander John (1820–1894)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  6. ↑ Nunn, H. W. (1969). "Black, Alexander (1827–1897)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australia: Melbourne University Press.
  7. ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
  8. ↑ "Joseph Martin Reed"
  9. ↑ http://www.planning.act.gov.au/tools_resources/place_search/place_search3?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkYyMDMuOS4yNDkuMyUyRlBsYWNlTmFtZXMlMkZQbGFjZURldGFpbHMuYXNweCUzRm9iamVjdElEJTNEOTA1MSZhbGw9MQ%3D%3D
  10. ↑ https://Land Victoria Roll of Honour, //www.land.vic.gov.au/about-land-use-victoria/roll-of-honour
  11. ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
  12. ↑ http://www.rasurvey.org/ACTNewsletters/No%2010%20National%20Bulletin%20Survey%20Corps%20Assocs%20-%20September%201974.pdf
  13. ↑ Obituary for Colin Edward Middleton ISO (20/7/1920 – 20/4/2015) Traverse Sep 2015, https://surveying.org.au/traverse/#toggle-id-28
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ "Keynote" (PDF). admin.surveyorsboard.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  16. ↑ "Member (AM) In the General Division of the Order of Australia"
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ "Eighth United Nations Conference on theStandardization of Geographical Names" (PDF). unstats.un.org. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  19. ↑ Parker, John (2002). "FIG Commission 1 (Professional Standards and Practice)Report on Activities 1998 – 2002" (PDF). www.fig.net. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  20. ↑ Queen's Birthday Honours List, 13 June 2022, https://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-06/20220612_OoA%20Gazette.pdf
  21. ↑ Award ID 2011559, Queen's Birthday Honours List, 13 June 2022, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2011559
  22. ↑ https://surveyorsboard.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/576455/Annual-Report-2015-2016.pdf
  23. ↑ https://surveyorsboard.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/576456/Annual-Report-2016-2017.pdf

Sources

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