News in 2017
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Adelaide commemoration of the first trigonometric
allotment in coordinated system
2 May 2017, Adelaide, Australia
The 180th Anniversary of the commencement of Light’s District of
Adelaide Trigonometrical (Trig) Survey – Trig Station A Historical
Monumentation was celebrated with a commemoration program in Adelaide, Australia. The celebration was of the first surveying program with a
coordinates grid for allotting lands. The marking of the first point of
that survey is remembered with a bronze plaque to be installed on the first
point.
Historical Monumentation sited centred on Trigonometrical Survey Station A north-west corner of Town Acre 1, corner of North Terrace and West Terrace (adjacent the Newmarket Hotel) by Kelly Henderson and Jan de Graeve (research and design), and Ian Rutter, Command E (3D rendering artwork) |
FIG International Institution for the History of Surveying and Measurement,
IIHS&M, has been helpful in this process.
Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress,
Adelaide, spoke at this occasion in the presence of
the Surveyor General
of South Australia, Michael Burdett.
It was further noted that:
"...the imminent Federation Internationale des Geometres (FIG)
Annual Conference of 1000 delegates in Helsinki on 29 May 2017 and the
opportunity for this monumentation of Colonel Light’s District of
Adelaide Trigonometrical Survey to be acknowledged at this international conference".
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Director of FIG IIHSM, Jan de Graeve, gave a presentation at the
FIG General Assembly on 29 May which was endorsed by the General Assembly.
At the ceremony in
Adelaide, the Lord Mayor stated that "The Council
acknowledges the vision of Colonel William Light in determining the site
for Adelaide and the design of the City with its six squares and
surrounding belt of continuous Park Lands which is recognised on the
National Heritage List as one of the greatest examples of Australia’s
planning heritage".
The bronze survey mark is 800 mm in diameter
commemorating the 180th Anniversary of the commencement of Light’s
District of Adelaide Trigonometrical Survey.
The 180th anniversary gift presentation to the Surveyor-General was a
facsimile-sized print copy of the Oct 1838 "Plan of the District of
Adelaide". Kelly Henderson who has been very active and efficient
represented the IIHS&M and FIG on this ceremony. Both the Surveyor
General and the Mayor received a high-resolution digital image on a USB
key as well as a copy of FIG Publication No.50 History of Surveying. The
Surveyor-General and Surveyor Kim Nisbet were thanked for providing the
survey equipment and re-enactment of the turning of the first angle of
Light's 1837 District of Adelaide Trigonometrical Survey, which was a
highlight of the commemorative event.
The Surveyor-General's Address
very clearly stated that professional practices established by Light
were of such a high standard that they are in use today, and the
longevity of good record keeping practice is such as to enable accurate
re-location and marking of old survey points, for example enabling the
GI Nail now marking Trig Station A to be driven into the original Peg
hole!
The initial start was in 2010 when Jan de Graeve met Kelly Henderson
at the FIG Congress 2010 in Sydney, Australia. Jan de Graeve says "Congratulations
with the plaque on point 1 of the first coordinated survey in Australia
and the preservation of the Park Lands as designed by Willian Light. I am
very proud of what you (Kelly Henderson) have achieved and happy that I
had an opportunity to meet you at the right moment and to have proposed
the approval of the FIG general assembly in Sydney to recognize the
importance of William Lights achievements . The FIG General
Assembly 2010 received a proposal for World Heritage nomination of
William Light's Adelaide Plan for the UNESCO World Heritage List. IIHS&M have been
working on this project since the FIG Sydney conference.
The GI
Nail now marking Trig Station A, was fixed in response to the request of
Jan de Grave and Kelly Henderson,
in person, for the Surveyor-General's assistance with locating Trig
Station A, at their meeting with Mr Burdett in the Lands Department
office of the Surveyor-General, Adelaide, 2014.
The provision of historic
surveying equipment was a crucial part of the impact of the event and a
great highlight of the occasion, and it gives me great pleasure to add
in closing that the provenance for that survey equipment (theodolite and
tripod) should now have added to it the fact that it was used by The
Lady Mayoress of Adelaide Genevieve Theseira-Haese to take a sighting
down West Terrace from Trig Station A, on the occasion of the 180th
anniversary of the commencement of Light's District of Adelaide
Trigonometrical Survey, Tuesday 2 May 2017.
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 The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide Martin Haese and
The Lady Mayoress of Adelaide, Genevieve Theseira-Haese, Tuesday
2 May 2017, corner of North Terrace and West Terrace (adjacent
Trig Station A and the Newmarket Hotel, Town Acre 1) |
The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide Martin Haese (right) and Mr Michael Burdett, Surveyor-General of South Australia and also representing the Surveyors Board of SA, laying interim Historical Monumentation to mark and interpret Trig Station A, pending emplacement of a permanent bronze monument. Mr Alexander Augustus Pairin Kitingan, Honorary Consul of Malaysia in Adelaide (far right) whose attendance acknowledges Surveyor-General William Light having been born in Kuala Kedah, Malaysia; The Lady Mayoress of Adelaide, Genevieve Theseira-Haese; City of Adelaide Councillor Alexander Wilkinson; Mr Ken Jacobs,Vice President, Pioneers Association of SA Inc, and Professor Norman Etherington AM, President of the National Trust of South Australia.
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Online historic 1839 map in which Trig Station A and other Stations of
the Trigonometrical Survey are marked:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231421265/view
(The District of Adelaide, South Australia; As divided into
Country Sections from the Trigonometrical Surveys of Colonel
Light late Survr.Genl., John Arrowsmith, Feby 18th, 1839) |
Louise Friis-Hansen
29 August 2017
