Surveyors and the Aboriginal people
1824 to 1842: Convicts untrustworthy
Robert Dixon, Granville Stapylton and James Warner were the first surveyors to arrive in Moreton Bay in 1839 and were allocated convicts to act as their chainmen. Many of these convicts were found to be 'insolent, sulky and stupid', as Warner reported in 1840.
Dixon, Stapylton and Warner soon began to use local Aboriginal men to look after the horses and oxen. They also helped to carry out general survey work including clearing lines and dragging the chain. R.C. Bagot reported their conduct in 1849 as 'very good'.
1843 to 1859: Frontier conflict
Many of the early colonial surveyors worked in small groups, often in isolated locations. This resulted in a certain amount of frontier conflict between survey parties and the Aboriginal people. Even though raiding the surveyors' camp became a frequent event in the 1800s, only a handful of fatalities occurred. Overall, surveyors tried to avoid conflict as Surveyor McCabe of Gladstone did in 1854:
...When out on duty one day, fully armed, they espied some blacks, hunting. Panic-struck at the sight of the ...., the surveyor fled, followed by his party, who threw away their carbines in order to make the best use of their legs, and arrived in camp without any serious injury, beyond a broken shin or two in falling over logs.
The natives, not having the slightest hostile intention, brought the firearms into the settlement next day, and delivered them over to Mr Wilmott, the storekeeper, remarking with much laughter, how frightened the white fellows were and how they did run.
Having discovered the weakness of the surveyor's party (about a score strong), the blacks in a few days came down in force, and proceeded to plunder the tent. The gallant surveyor with his party at once retired behind a big tree, where twenty stand of arms were piled, and with a Colt's revolving rifle in his hand, observed with the greatest complacency the plunder of his tent, remarking that he was paid to measure and not to fight.McCabe 1854
Field book and plan sketches
As a directive from Sir Thomas Mitchell, our early surveyors would generally record in their field books the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander place names and occasionally their meanings. Some would draw the Aboriginal people which would often appear on the face of the survey plan.
Plan of part of the town of Bowen, north Queensland, surveyed by Clarendon Stuart, 1862
1860 to 1880: Valuable assistants
In difficult country the expertise of the Aboriginal people was essential for the survey to be successful. Surveyor Francis Roberts, when carrying out the Queensland-New South Wales border survey in 1865, said:
...with my party it would be quite impracticable to perform this part of the work (along the ranges), white men with heavy loads on their backs could not keep on their feet in such steep and broken places. I was consequently obliged, with much persuasion, to induce, and at great expense to myself, to employ the blacks to assist in humping (carry by manual labour), and that frequently over distances ranging from 20 to 30 miles through this scrubby broken country.
Were it not for this expedient, the work would have to be entirely abandoned. Besides humping, the blacks were very useful in cutting lines of communication and also when employed in lopping off the upper branches of the trees on the mountain sides and tearing down the vine scrub in order to make openings for observations – for this work, they had to be paid and fed, besides which I, from time to time, was in order to induce them to remain, obliged to supply them with blankets, shirts, tobacco, tomahawks and trinkets, etc.Roberts FE 1865
1881 to 1900: Finding hidden wells
Augustus Poeppel surveyed the Queensland-South Australian border in 1881. He was well served by local aboriginal people who showed him how to find the native wells in the Simpson Desert. The Assistant Surveyor, L.A. Wells, described finding one of these native wells:
Prior to Mr Poeppel’s arrival, I had found out from 'Dickery' natives that there was a native well ('Mickerie') called 'Yalkerie', named after a bulb which grows in profusion in the flats between the sandhills. The native women root these up when dry and roast and eat them.
We got an old native to show where the well was and found the locality was only fifteen minutes north-east of the Corner (Poeppels), and it would be a boon to us if the supply was good. The hole was about twelve feet across the top and at the bottom only two or three feet. It was, when cleared out, about fifteen feet deep. The water, although sweet, was good and apparently a good supply, but it was necessary to sink another well, and fix up a windlass before we could make use of the supply.Wells LA 1881
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander chainmen and surveyors, Cairns region, c1890 Courtesy Mrs M Stephenson
Last updated: 17 June 2009