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What have surveyors done for our country and our world?

Since the early days of history, the surveyor has played an important role in the development of any country. Surveyors can trace their history to the beginning of written chronicles in around 3000 BC, with the re-establishment of field boundaries after the annual floods of the River Nile in Egypt.

Famous people with a surveying background include George Washington and Abraham Lincoln: the logical, methodical reasoning provided through their education as surveyors provided much benefit to them in their future, more famous, careers. In Australia, surveyors were the first explorers and include Captain James Cook, Matthew Flinders, Sir Thomas Mitchell, John Oxley, Charles Sturt, Hamilton Hume and William Wills. Early surveyors were responsible for opening vast tracts of land for settlement, building roads and designing whole towns and cities.

More modern exploration such as the Apollo moon landings and NASA's missions to Mars would not have been possible without surveyors using their expertise as position measuring experts. It therefore comes as no surprise that NASA adopted the name "Surveyor" to christen some of its unmanned spacecraft to both the moon and to Mars.

Surveyors have always been integrally involved in major development projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme. The construction of Australian icons such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House involved very precise surveying. Currently, an Australian surveyor is responsible for the positioning of the world's tallest building being constructed in Dubai.

The unique value of the surveyors' involvement in the development of Australia was recognised in April 2006 by the dedication of 'Surveyors Park' on Capital Hill in Canberra. The site of the surveyors' camp during the establishment of our national capital, 'Surveyors Park' is the only other named feature on Capital Hill apart from Parliament House, the seat of our Federal parliament.