William Swan Urquhart's career surveying for the Victorian Government commenced in 1845 as an assistant surveyor and ended as a district surveyor. He retired in 1864 and died in 1881 in East Melbourne. Much of his early work involved surveying county boundaries and his skills were quickly recognised by Superintendent La Trobe who referred to him in 1849 as 'a man of excellent character, diligent and able in the performance of his various branches of duty'.¹ Urquhart Bluff on the Great Ocean Road was named after him by fellow surveyor George Smyth.² Settlements laid out by Urquhart in the period up to 1853 include Ballarat, Carisbrook, Castlemaine, Elphinstone, Lockwood, Malmsbury, Sunbury and Taradale, and most of these have an Urquhart Street in recognition of his work.

As the district or senior surveyor of the central goldfields from mid-1853, Urquhart undertook very important work directing the layout of agricultural lands, towns, roads and reserves in 47 government parishes. Evidence of his career from 1845 to 1864 can be found throughout the 231 survey map plans bearing his name, accessible on microfiche at Public Record Office Victoria as part of VPRS 15899 Historic Plan Collection. These maps were prepared by other surveyors while working under Urquhart as assistant surveyors.³ His is a story worth telling.

Born in Ross Shire, Scotland in 1818, Urquhart arrived in the colony of Victoria around 1840. He first worked as a private surveyor for squatters in the Western District, then as a contract surveyor for the colonial government. In December 1845 he was appointed to the public service as an assistant surveyor, then in 1853 promoted to the position of surveyor. In 1854 he is referred to in Melbourne Survey Office internal correspondence as the surveyor in charge of the Mt Alexander goldfield and the senior surveyor on the goldfields.⁴ In 1861 he was granted leave and notifications of this in the Victoria Government Gazette refer to him as District Surveyor of Castlemaine.⁵ His staff at one stage included six assistant surveyors. Urquhart was responsible for organising the surveying of township reserves, roads and agricultural lands, his assistant surveyors being responsible for carrying out the work. In 1857 his duties increased when he was one of two district surveyors appointed by the government as a census enumerator. In 1859 his duties further increased with his appointment as a Crown lands commissioner, then in 1860 as a Crown lands appraiser and collector of imposts.⁶

Appointed Assistant Surveyor, 1845

On 24 October 1845 Urquhart was informed by Robert Hoddle that there was a probability that an assistant surveyor might be required and could he be in Melbourne within ten days to a fortnight.⁷ Hoddle followed up with further correspondence on 14 November, informing Urquhart that indeed an assistant surveyor was needed as he (Hoddle) had been instructed by the Surveyor-General to mark the boundaries of the counties of Bourke and Grant.⁸

The extent of the county boundary survey work accomplished by Urquhart is astonishing, but more so when one considers the conditions under which it was achieved. He was assisted by a team of four labourers, a bullock driver and a tent keeper, acquiring an assistant only in 1851. The men were with him for eight months of each year, the other four months being spent drawing up his maps. His surveying equipment consisted of theodolite and circumeter, 'and the ranges and creeks were carefully traversed and corrected by back sights and trig points and all lines carefully checked so that no errors could occur'. ⁹

Commencing his duties in December 1845, Urquhart surveyed the boundaries of the counties of Bourke and Grant between Mt Macedon and Mt Blackwood near the sources of the Loddon and Werribee rivers.¹⁰ The following year involved a number of surveys including the boundary of the County of Grant between Cape Otway and the mouth of the Barwon River; part of the County of Bourke near the Mullum Mullum Creek; and a general survey of the Dandenong Ranges between the Yarra River and Westernport as well as a general survey of the ranges north of the Great Dividing Range, including the sources of the Lederberg River.

Survey of part of the Murray River from Swan Hill to the Gunbower (detail), PROV, VPRS 8168/P2, Unit 3575, Murray River Survey 9

This work on county boundaries continued in 1847 and included a survey of the Lal Lal Creek and the sources of the Moorabool and Yarrowee rivers; the ranges of Mt Bunyinyong, Warraneep and Black Hill; and the Dividing Range between the Werribee and Yarrowee rivers, including the future site of Ballarat and its surrounding goldfields. Urquhart finished the year with a survey of part of the Great Swamp 'Kooweeroop' as far as 'Buneep Buneep', Western Port.

In 1848 he surveyed about 2,000 acres of rich agricultural lands into suitably sized lots for farms of 80 to 200 acres each between Geelong and Point Richards; a line of road from Keilor to Pentland Hills through Bacchus Marsh; the Loddon River from Jim Crow Creek to the Murray River and the Avoca River rivulet; and the ranges between the Avoca and the Loddon. The following year (1849) he surveyed the Avoca River, Callums Creek, Deep Creek, Bullarook and Burrumbeet creeks and Lake Learmonth as well as the Dividing Range from the sources of the Yarrowee to Mt William in the Grampians including Mt Misery, Mt Cole, Mt Ararat and the ranges now known as the Pyrenees. Mt William became the northern boundary of the County of Ripon. He also surveyed the volcanic hills around Dowling Forest and Glendaruel. This led to the experience in his career which forever touched him.