First surveyors
A distinguished surveyor, Sidney Reilly, wrote in his book 'The Profession of Surveying in Queensland':
Men of spirit have always been willing to face the difficulties and dangers of travel in strange places. They may have been inspired by love of adventure, the desire for fame or wealth, or the lure of the unknown - but all needed courage, endurance and determination.Institution of Surveyors Australia (Qld Divn) 1970
This animated image shows the expansion of gazetted pastoral districts.
The sequence of pastoral settlement evolved from the south-east corner of the colony in 1842. This continued until the whole of the colony was divided into districts by 1873. This reveals the same direction taken by explorers and surveyors a few years earlier.
1824 to 1842: Trigonometrical surveys around Brisbane
The Imperial Government made a decision in the 1830s to abandon Moreton Bay as a penal station and open up the area to free settlement.
By 1839, most of the convicts had been removed and Governor Gipps had despatched the first three surveyors (Dixon, Stapylton and Warner) to Moreton Bay. They arrived in May of 1839 and began carrying out surveys for the town of Brisbane and surrounding areas. Gipps gave directions that:
the survey shall, for the first time in New South Wales, be conducted on scientific principles by using a theodolite rather than a compass.Gipps 1839
This scientific or trigonometrical survey soon commenced with Dixon measuring a base line three miles long on the Normanby Plains near Ipswich.
The base line was measured with three deal [pine] rods ten feet long, tipped with brass measured from the Standard Scale. Each rod was located on tripods and set in a perfect straight line...Dixon 1840
Dixon's Base line recorded on a Trigonometrical Survey plan, 1840
Warner (shown left) courtesy Mrs D. Gray- Woods was instructed to clear the mountain tops of their timber. This was so that the angles could be read to the other trig stations.
One of the hills being cleared by Warner and his men was on the Herbert Taylor Range. It was here that Warner left a solitary tree State Library of Queensland neg no. 60956 (pictured) to sight on from all the other trig stations. 
This station became known as One Tree Hill and later Mt Coot-tha.
In May 1840, Staplyton was killed by Aboriginals while surveying near Mt Lindesay.
In a new district where there were no previous surveys of the land, the surveyors initially spent considerable time on feature surveys. This was to locate the rivers, creeks and ranges, some of which would later become the boundaries of the runs, parishes and counties.
As a result of the size of the runs (approximately 25 square miles in area), they became parishes when the areas were opened up for closer settlement.
Due to the isolation of these feature surveys and their repetitive nature, Sir Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor General of New South Wales (including what is now Queensland), described the effect on his young surveyors in the following terms:
In many cases, has lost me good surveyors, talented young men, from the odious habit of drunkenness, to which they have more than once fallen victim.Mitchell T 1855
Before the surveyors arrived, explorers such as Captain Logan and botanist Allan Cunningham ventured further west from Brisbane. They paved the way for selectors and squatters to follow and settle the land.
Exploring south-east Queensland
1843 to 1859:Explorers push inland and establish new settlements
Once the area around the Brisbane settlement had been established, explorers penetrated deeper into the continent opening up territory for new settlers.
As a consequence of expanding settlement, surveyors were in high demand. They surveyed townships, villages and farms throughout south-east Queensland.
Explorers penetrate the interior
Trig survey on the Condamine
In 1846, James Charles Burnett became surveyor in charge of the Moreton Bay district, replacing Henry Wade. Wade had previously replaced Robert Dixon.
On the 1 November 1847, Deputy Surveyor General S.A. Perry wrote to Burnett. He outlined the requirements for a triangulation survey of the grazing districts beyond the boundaries of the proclaimed counties.
In commencing the general survey of your district, you will assume as fixed points such remarkable geographical features as may have been laid down (from data upon which you can rely) in the previous surveys of Mr Dixon and yourself. From these points you will carry a connected series of triangles along the great watershed of the Condamine and the eastern waters, laying down as you proceed, the heads of all the tributaries to the Condamine that have heretofore been placed on the maps as the result only of hasty reconnaissances...Perry SA 1847
In May of 1849, Burnett measured a base line for his triangulation network. This base line was 2 miles and 10 chains long and was situated midway between Mt Maria and Mt Irving on the Jondaryan Plain near Dalby.
This triangulation was carried out between February 1848 and April 1850, but only covered a small area on the south eastern part of the Darling Downs.
Burnett used the same three deal rods that Dixon had used in 1839.
Last updated: 17 June 2009