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)

List of Surveyors General of New South Wales

Surveyor GeneralPeriod in officeCommentsNotes
Augustus Alt1787– 1803Alt's job was mainly undertaken by then Deputy, Charles Grimes[1]
Charles Grimes1803 – 1811George William Evans acted August 1803 – February 1805
John Oxley1812 – 1828
Sir Thomas Mitchell1828 - 1855Samuel Augustus Perry, deputy from 1829.[2]
George Barney1855 – 1859
Alexander McLean1861 – 1862Acting Surveyor General 1859-1861
Walker Davidson1864 – 1868Acting Surveyor General 1861-1863
Philip Adams1868 - 1887Assisted the NSW Government Astronomer in observing a transit of Venus
Edward Twynam1890 – 1901Acting Surveyor General 1888-1890
Position abolished1890 – 1911Office of Surveyor-General abolished in 1890, replaced by Chief Surveyor and Superintendent of Trigonometrical Survey.
Joseph Allworth1901 – 1904
Edward MacFarlane1904 – 1908
Robert McDonald1908 – 1911
Frederick Poate1911 – 1916Surveyor-General title revived 1911
John Broughton1916 – 1922
Alfred Chesterman1922 – 1925
Henry Hall1925 – 1926
Hamilton Mathews1926 – 1937
Arthur Allen1937 – 1945
Harold Barrie1945 – 1946
Daniel Mulley1946 – 1953
George Vincent1953 – 1960
Charles Elphinstone1960 – 1963
Henry Barr1963 – 1965
Leo Fletcher1965 – 1978
Jack Darby1979 – 1985
Don Grant AO, RFD1986 – 2000Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 2020 for "distinguished service to surveying, particularly through the establishment of a combined public sector mapping agency"[3] Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 1994 in recognition of service to surveying.[4][5]
Warwick Watkins2000 – 2011Watkins was sacked from his position in the NSW Public Service after the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found in December 2011 that Watkins acted corruptly. He afterwards resigned from the position of Surveyor-General.[6] 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 Watkins was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond.[7][8][9] The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, 29 February 2016, issued notice that the Governor-General terminated Watkins appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.[10] Watkins death was reported in November 2019.[11]
Desmond Mooney2011-16
Narelle Underwood Superstar of STEM[12]2016–PresentUnderwood was the youngest person in 200 years and the first female to be appointed to the position of Surveyor-General. In 2018 Underwood was listed in the inaugural NSW Top 50 Public Sector Women and was awarded the 2017 UNSW Maria Skyllas-Kazacos Young Professional Award for Outstanding Achievement.[13] Underwood graduated from UNSW in 2009 with a BE Hons 1 Surveying & Spatial Information Systems and the University Medal. Underwood was appointed for "her wealth of experience", advised in the NSW government departmental media release.[14] Underwood’s "wealth of experience" for appointment is evidenced by graduation in 2009 and registration in late 2010. That is around 5 years experience only, as a Registered Surveyor, making her one of the least qualified Surveyors-General. Predecessor, Warwick Watkins was not qualified.[15][16] Underwood was recognised at the 2019 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards, when she was named as co-winner of the ANZSOG-sponsored Emerging Female Leader in Government or Public Sector. Underwood was named as joint winner with Macquarie University academic Amy Thunig who won for her work in revolutionising settler-colonial approaches to education and building bridges between academia and the broader public.[17] Underwood is the first Superstar of STEM to be Surveyor General.[18][19] Underwood is the first appointee to play AFL and train in Muay Thai kickboxing [20]

In her relatively short career to date, Underwood has won a total of nine industry awards for her innovation and commitment to quality outputs, including the Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards Young Professional of the Year in 2011, which she won from amidst a highly capable international field. In 2014 the team which Underwood managed won a NSW Excellence in Surveying and Spatial Information Award for the technical innovation and efficiency they displayed during stage 1 of the WestConnex development project. Under Underwood’s management, six teams covering vast geographical areas used the latest mobile laser scanning technology, cutting surveying time by up to 70%. Because of the densely populated urban environment, other technologies such as traditional detail surveying and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) were also used to enhance the accuracy of MLS-derived data and filling in any apparent gaps. Underwood is working with two professional bodies (ISNSW and SMIC – of which she is chair) on the NSW Surveying Task Force to encourage more graduates to consider a career in surveying – without whom the construction industry could very well grind to a halt.[21] As Surveyor General, Underwood is the President of the Board of Surveying and Spatial Information (BOSSI), Chair of the Geographical Names Board (GNB), NSW Surveying Taskforce and the Surveying and Mapping Industry Council (SMIC). Underwood is the NSW representative on the Australian and New Zealand Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying & Mapping (ICSM) and the Geocentric Datum of Australia Modernisation Implementation Working Group (GMIWG).[22]

References

  1. Dowd, Bernard T. (1966). "Augustus Theodore Henry Alt". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 15 June 2012 via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. "Samuel Augustus Perry". Design & Art Online Australia. Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  3. "OFFICER (AO) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  4. "Search Australian Honours: GRANT, Donald Morrison". It's an Honour. Australian Government. 10 June 1994. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  5. "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.
  6. "Land and Property Management Authority – alleged corrupt conduct concerning matters arising from Currawong property purchase (Operation Napier)". Current investigations. NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.
  7. Nicholls, Sean (29 May 2013). "Watkins faces possible 10 years jail over $12m property deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  8. "Charges dismissed against Warwick Watkins over NSW Labor land deal". The Australian. AAP. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  9. On 23 October 2014, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors expelled Watkins from the Institution and automatically lost his Fellowship.ref>"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.
  10. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/bureaucrat-volunteer-lose-honours
  11. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/former-senior-bureaucrat-warwick-watkins-dies-20191118-p53bqf.html
  12. https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/
  13. https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/profile/narelle-underwood/
  14. https://www.spatialsource.com.au/surveying/nsw-appoints-first-female-surveyor-general-narelle-underwood
  15. https://www.spatialsource.com.au/surveying/nsw-appoints-first-female-surveyor-general-narelle-underwood
  16. https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/civil-engineering/industry-community/industry-advisory-committee/narelle-underwood
  17. https://www.anzsog.edu.au/resource-library/news-media/narelle-underwood-wins-emerging-female-leader-award
  18. https://au.linkedin.com/in/narelleunderwood
  19. https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/
  20. https://www.surveyingcongress.com.au/2020-speaker-profiles
  21. https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/civil-engineering/what-is-engineering/alumni-profiles/alumni-profile-narelle-underwood
  22. http://infrastructureconference.com.au/project/narelle-underwood/
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