Historical information

Link with item 1178.
This is a surveyors' camp in the McCulloch Ranges, Murrangowar, April, 1897. Included in the photograph are: L. Thorn; Pearson; L. Coburn, Clem Bates; Sam Blacklock with a packhorse. They were surveying for a road or railway.
Surveyors were among the first European settlers to arrive in Australia. A Surveyor-General was present on the First Fleet, as well as the first two ships which landed in South Australia. These men were issued with instructions to record observations in a journal that included the country’s general appearance, its soil, flora and fauna and the customs and language of local inhabitants.
The conditions they worked in were harsh and they embarked on journeys with drays carrying cumbersome surveying and camping equipment, spending months camping out in the bush and mapping the land.
It was not until well into the second half of the nineteenth century that the professional training of surveyors became mandatory in Australia.

Significance

This is a pictorial record of a surveyors' camp in the late 19th century.

Physical description

A black / white photograph of a group of men standing in front of a tent / camp in a dense bush setting.