OSG History of the Surveyor-General

OFFICE OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL

History of the Surveyor-General

List of Surveyor-Generals of South Australia  |  Period in office


Col. William Light  |  1836 – July 1838

George Ormsby  |  July 1838 – March 1839

Capt. Charles Sturt  |  March – October 1839

Edward Charles Frome  |  October 1839 – February 1849

Sir Arthur Henry Freeling  |  1849–1861

George Woodroffe Goyder  |  1861–1894

William Strawbridge  |  1894–1911

Edwin Mitchell Smith  |  1911–1917

Norman William Pethick  |  1917–1921

Theodore Ernest Day  |  1921–1930

James Henry McNamara  |  1930–1937

Clive Melville Hambidge  |  1937–1950

Arthur Dickerson Smith  |  1950–1951

Harold Leslie Fisk  |  1951–1959

Alexander Hubert Hawdon Davison  |  1959–1961

Harry Alexander Bailey  |  1961–1969

George Harry Campbell Kennedy  |  1969–1978

Bryan Howard Bridges  |  1978–1987

John Reginald Porter  |  1987–1992

Christopher William Lunnay  |  1992–1993

Peter Maclaren Kentish  |  1993–2012

Michael Paul Burdett  |  2012–2022

Bradley James Slape  |  2022–present


Surveyor General’s Office correspondence 1838 – 1864


The Surveyor-General’s Office was part of the Lands Department, and reported to the Commissioner for Crown Lands and Immigration. Most of the correspondence relates to the survey of land for settlement and mining. Visit Surveyor-General’s Office Correspondence - State Records SA.

Portraits of Surveyor-Generals of South Australia


Portraits of George Woodroffe Goyder, William Strawbridge, Edwin Mitchell Smith, Norman William Pethick,and Theodore Ernest Day and historic maps can be seen at State Library South Australia.

Historic maps


Historic maps created by the Surveyor-General can be found in State Records of SA.

We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal peoples as the state's first peoples and nations, and recognise them as traditional owners and occupants of land and waters in South Australia. Further, we acknowledge that the spiritual, social, cultural and economic practices of Aboriginal peoples come from their traditional lands and waters, that they maintain their cultural and heritage beliefs, languages and laws which are of ongoing importance, and that they have made and continue to make a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the state. We acknowledge that Aboriginal peoples have endured past injustice and dispossession of their traditional lands and waters.