The role of the land surveyor in the development of New Zealand 1840-1876

Abstract

This study is an assessment of the role of the land surveyor in the development of New Zealand, during the first thirty-six years of organized settlement. In this formative period of colonization, the members of the survey profession went in advance of the settlers to lay out the rural lands, the new towns and the route-ways. As they did their work, they laid upon the landscape certain patterns which have lasted until the present day. Throughout New Zealand, in libraries containing historical books and records, there exists a large amount of valuable material on the life and works of the early surveyors. In the various district offices of the Department of Lands and Survey, and in the Head Office in Wellington, there is a wealth of valuable material in the form of old plans and maps, journals, letter-books and field-books. Some of this material has been used in the compilation of provincial or district histories, but little has been written of the work of the surveyors themselves.