Surveyor General of Victoria

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.Also note that the Act spells "Surveyor-General" with hyphen.[2]

List of Surveyors General of Victoria

Surveyor General Period in office Notes
Robert Hoddle 1851 – 1853 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.).
Capt. Andrew Clarke 1853 – March 1857 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. 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 public servant.

Later promoted Lieutenant General with a distinguished military career; Sir Andrew 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.

George Samuel Wegg Horne March – April 1857 Horne was a lawyer and politician rather than surveyor. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for the 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 Genberal of Victoria to be a politician rather than public servant; he was also commissioner Public Works 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 Chief Engineer of the Victorian Railways in 1856-57 and again 1891-1898
Clement Hodgkinson 1857 – 1858 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 Ligar 1858 – 1869 Earlier served as the Surveyor General of New Zealand 1841-1856 [4]
Alexander John Skene 1869 – 1886 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. 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 Black 1886 – 1892 His work included the survey of the Black-Allan Line
Michael Callanan 1894 – 1895
Samuel Kingston Vickery 1895 – 1899
Joseph Martin Reed ISO 1899 – 1914 Awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1903 for service as Victorian Surveyor General;[6] 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 service with the Victorian Public service in July 1918.[7]
Alexander Bruce Lang 1914 – 1925
George Stewart Pinniger 1925 – 1926
Fenelon De la Motte Mott 1926 – 1928
Albert Edward W. Tobin 1928 – 1932
Peter Campbell 1932 – 1935
Henry William Moore 1935 – 1938
Oscar George Pearson 1938 – 1952
Frank William Arter 1952 – 1967
Colin Edward Middleton ISO 1967 – 1972 Later appointed Secretary of Lands; Awarded the Imperial Service Order in 1981 for service as Secretary of the Victoria Crown Lands Department [8]
John Eric Mitchell 1972 – 1979
Raymond Eden Holmes 1979 – 1988 In 1994, awarded by The University of Melbourne a Doctorate of Surveying Honaris Causa for his services to the surveying profession in Victoria and The University of Melbourne[9] Following his retirement as Surveyor General Dr. Holmes worked as a consultant to both the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization as an expert adviser on land administration.[10]

During the period 1988-89, Robert Eddington acted as Surveyor General.

John Richard Parker 1989 – 1997 Later Registrar of Geographic Names Victoria; Chair of the Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia (CGNA) and also Chairman of the Asia South-East, Pacific South-West Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN)[11] 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. Prof. Parker also chaired Commission 1, Professional Standards and Practice, of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG);[12] He has also consulted as an expert adviser on land administration to the World Bank.

During the period 1997-99 Barrie Bremner and Alan Fennell acted as Surveyor General respectively.

Keith Clifford Bell RFD 1999 – 2003 In 2003 awarded by RMIT University a Doctorate of Applied Science Honaris Causa for leadership in the management of change in surveying, geospatial science and land administration governance in Australia and representation of the surveying profession.[13] Following his service as Surveyor General, Dr. Bell joined the staff of the World Bank as an expert adviser in land administration.[14]
John Ernest Tulloch 2003 – Present

References

  1. ↑ "About the Surveyor-General of Victoria". The State of Victoria. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/LTObject_Store/LTObjSt4.nsf/d1a8d8a9bed958efca25761600042ef5/7d2716a595cb70cdca2577610032f266/$FILE/04-47a010.pdf
  3. ↑ Nunn, H. W. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  4. ↑ Powell, J. M. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  5. ↑ Powell, J. M. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  6. ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
  7. ↑ http://www.upperbeac.rocke.id.au/p485.htm
  8. ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours".
  9. ↑ http://www.unimelb.edu.au/unisec/calendar/honcausa/hon.html
  10. ↑ http://admin.surveyorsboard.vic.gov.au/uploads/10/docs/Conferral%20Ceremonies/6%20RHolmes%20Keynote%20Conferral%20Speech_10Sept2002%20.pdf
  11. ↑ http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/crp/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94-crp.66.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.fig.net/pub/proceedings/nairobi/parker-TS1-3.pdf
  13. ↑ http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=zbr0xu4qig8j
  14. ↑ http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTIE/Resources/475495-1348416947123/World_Bank_Land_Conference_Program_Book.pdf
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