Surveyor_General_of_New_South_Wales
The Surveyor General of New South Wales is the primary government authority responsible for land and mining surveying in New South Wales.
The original duties for the Surveyor General was to measure and determine land grants for settlers in New South Wales.
The Surveyor General is the leader and regulator of the land and mining surveying profession and plays a key advocacy role in the spatial industry in NSW
- Responsibilities under the Surveying & Spatial Information Act & its Regulation
- Surveyor General's Directions
- President of the Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI)
- Chair of the Geographical Names Board (GNB)
- NSW representative on the Intergovernmental Committee for Surveying & Mapping (ICSM)
- Electoral Boundaries Commissioner (State & Federal)
- Sets the quality, education and competency standards for registered land and mining surveyors
- Responsible for protecting the public and the integrity of the state cadastre by suspension or removal of registered surveyors in relation to misconduct or incompetence
- Responsible for the DFSI Spatial Services Survey Operations team (Geodesy, State control survey, CORSnet-NSW, SCIMS)
More information Period in office, Comments ...
| Surveyor General | Period in office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Augustus Alt | 1787–1803 | Alt's job was mainly undertaken by then Deputy, Charles Grimes | [1] |
| Charles Grimes | 1803–1811 | George William Evans acted August 1803 – February 1805 | |
| John Oxley | 1812–1828 | ||
| Sir Thomas Mitchell | 1828–1855 | Samuel Augustus Perry, deputy from 1829.[2]
Mitchell was responsible for the massacre of Aboriginal Australians on 27 May 1836. There were at least seven Aboriginal people killed as they fled across the Murray River. The subsequent public enquiry in Sydney resulted in only a minor reprimand of Mitchell for his actions. It was also recorded that Mitchell changed his recollections of the account. The site of the massacre was named Mount Dispersion by Mitchell.[3] It was reported that Mitchell, after being followed for several days by Indigenous people, armed his men (against New South Wales Government orders) and organised an unprovoked ambush of them. The massacre actually took place over the course of several days. While he was acquitted by the enquiry, the incident tarnished his reputation for the rest of his career.[4] |
|
| George Barney | 1855–1859 | ||
| Alexander McLean | 1861–1862 | Acting Surveyor General 1859–1861 | |
| Walker Davidson | 1864–1868 | Acting Surveyor General 1861–1863 | |
| Philip Adams | 1868–1887 | Assisted the NSW Government Astronomer in observing a transit of Venus | |
| Edward Twynam | 1890–1901 | Acting Surveyor General 1888–1890 | |
| Position abolished | 1890–1911 | Office of Surveyor-General abolished in 1890, replaced by Chief Surveyor and Superintendent of Trigonometrical Survey. | |
| Joseph Allworth | 1901–1904 | ||
| Edward MacFarlane | 1904–1908 | ||
| Robert McDonald | 1908–1911 | ||
| Frederick Poate | 1911–1916 | Surveyor-General title revived 1911 | |
| John Broughton | 1916–1922 | ||
| Alfred Chesterman | 1922–1925 | ||
| Henry Hall | 1925–1926 | ||
| Hamilton Mathews | 1926–1937 | ||
| Arthur Allen | 1937–1945 | ||
| Harold Barrie | 1945–1946 | ||
| Daniel Mulley | 1946–1953 | ||
| George Vincent | 1953–1960 | ||
| Charles Elphinstone | 1960–1963 | ||
| Henry Barr | 1963–1965 | ||
| Leo Fletcher | 1965–1978 | ||
| Jack Darby | 1979–1985 | ||
| Don Grant AO RFD | 1986–2000 | Grant was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to surveying, particularly through the establishment of a combined public sector mapping agency"[5] He was previously appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 1994 in recognition of service to surveying.[6][7] Grant has also been awarded three honorary doctorate degrees from Australian universities. In 1997, Charles Sturt University conferred on Grant the degree of Doctor of Applied Science (honoris causa) for his contribution to Australian and international surveying, mapping and spatial information.[8] Also in 1997, the University of New South Wales awarded Grant the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa).[9] In 2004, the University of Melbourne awarded Grant the degree of Doctor of Surveying (honoris causa) for his contributions to surveying.[10] | |
| Warwick Watkins | 2000–2011 | Watkins was not professionally qualified as a surveyor or a Registered Surveyor. Watkins was sacked from the NSW Public Service after the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found in December 2011 that Watkins acted corruptly.[11] His sacking came after he had been stood down in March 2011 from his Chief Executive position in the NSW Public Service. The week prior to being sacked from the NSW Public Service, Watkins resigned his appointments as Surveyor-General, Registrar-General and Commissioner of the Soil Conservation Service. Had Watkins not resigned as Surveyor-General prior to being dismissed from the NSW Public Service, he would have become the first ever Surveyor-General sacked.[12] Following ICAC's findings, Watkins faced criminal charges in the NSW Local Court where it was reported he could have received 10 years imprisonment. Two of the charges were dismissed by the Court and in December 2013, Watkins was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond for the further two charges of misleading ICAC, to which he had pleaded guilty.[13][14][15] On 23 October 2014, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors expelled Watkins from the Institution and he automatically lost his Fellowship.[16] The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 29 February 2016, issued notice that the Governor-General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove, had terminated Watkins appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.[17] In November 2019, Watkins’ Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Surveyors NSW was suspended for six months.[18] Watkins' death was reported as 12 November 2019.[19][18] | |
| Desmond Mooney | 2011–2016 | ||
| Narelle Underwood | 2016–2021 | Underwood was the youngest person in 200 years and the first female to be appointed to the position of Surveyor-General.[20] | |
| Thomas Grinter | 2021–present | Acting.[21] Grinter is not listed by the Board of Surveying and Spatial Information as a Registered Surveyor.[22] | |
Close
- Dowd, Bernard T. (1966). "Augustus Theodore Henry Alt". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
- "Samuel Augustus Perry". Design & Art Online Australia. Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- Testa, Christopher (3 June 2020). "NSW Government recognises site of Mount Dispersion's 'bloody and vicious' massacre of Aboriginal people". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024.
- "Mount Dispersion Cairn". www.monumentaustralia.org.au. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024.
- "OFFICER (AO) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-01-26.
- "Mr Donald Morrison GRANT, RFD". Australian Honours Search Facility. Australian Government | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 10 June 1994. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- "Award of honorary degree of Doctor of Surveying: Dr Donald Morrison Grant" (PDF). Citation. University of Melbourne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- "Doctor Donald Morrison Grant" (PDF). csu.edu.au. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- "The University of Melbourne's honorary degree holders". 9 November 2020.
- Thomas, Nicole (12 December 2011). "Former minister and ex-LPMA chief corrupt, finds ICAC". www.icac.nsw.gov.au (Press release). Archived from the original on 11 December 2021.
- "Senior public servant sacked over Currawong". 21 July 2011.
- Samandar, Lema (19 December 2013). "Charges dismissed in Currawong case". AAP. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024 – via News.com.au.
- Nicholls, Sean (29 May 2013). "Watkins faces possible 10 years jail over $12m property deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- "Charges dismissed against Warwick Watkins over NSW Labor land deal". AAP. 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via The Australian.
- "Mr Warwick Watkins FRICS". Regulation: Disciplinary procedure: Panel hearings: Disciplinary panel hearings. United Kingdom: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
- "Former corrupt NSW senior bureaucrat Warwick Watkins dies aged 69". 18 November 2019.
- "The first female Surveyor General, Narelle Underwood - Spatial Source". 6 September 2016.
- "Home - Board of Surveying and Spatial Information of NSW". www.bossi.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2 May 2023.