Surveyors overseas
1901 to 1920: Respect for Queensland surveyors
In the early nineteen hundreds, Queensland surveyors were very much sought after to work in British Colonies that had inhospitable climates such as Africa, Malaya and New Guinea.
C.W.L. Crompton surveys in the Sudan, Africa, 1910
Courtesy Mr K Crompton
Advertisements were placed in Brisbane papers and letters sent to the Queensland Surveyor General in a bid to recruit these men. The feeling was that our surveyors were well trained and were used to the rigours of tropical climates. The retiring Surveyor General Archibald McDowall, in a speech to The Queensland Institute of Surveyors in 1902, said:
He knew that our Queensland surveyors were appreciated, in proof of which he would mention the application that had come to Queensland from West Africa. It was a far cry from Lagos, on the Gold Coast to Queensland, but it had come and he took it as more than a mere compliment. It was a distinct recognition of the quality of our Queensland survey work. Queensland Institute of Surveyors Transactions and Proceedings 1902-3
This image Courtesy Mr K Crompton depicts Capt H.D. Pearson and C.W.L. Crompton at the first beacon placed in the Gizereh Dam survey in Africa in 1905. This irrigation scheme covered more than five million acres.
1921 to 1950: Working in other countries
Queensland surveyors had become renowned worldwide in their profession and were employed in many different countries either to do survey work or to teach skills.
Mode of transport for Queensland surveyor E. V. Corlass in Malaya, 1921
Courtesy Mrs M Spiers
Queenslanders instructing potential surveyors in Malaya, 1929
Courtesy Mr G Billing
A surveyor's life (C.W.L. Crompton) in Ghana, early 1900s Courtesy Mr K Crompton
Last updated: 17 June 2009