Bill Kitson - the History of Charting the Wide Bay Coast

Andrew Petrie

Soon after the discovery of the Wide Bay River (Mary River) by Andrew Petrie in 1842, John Eales established a sheep station near the present town of Tiaro. Although short lived, this early settlement paved the way for future settlements on the Mary River.

Mathew Flinders

Previously maritime explorers like Flinders 1802 and Edwardson 1822 had visited Hervey Bay and both had missed the entrance to the river.

The Map of Fraser Island. Edwardson drew this Map in 1822 using the map of Flinders as a base. He captained the Snapper and used this map to navigate the water of the Fraser Coast. Doug Waters donated this map to Fraser Coast Libraries and it is hanging in the local history section of Hervey Bay Branch.

Edwardson did however prove that Fraser Island was indeed an island, a fact that Flinders had missed when he called it the Great Sandy Peninsula.
In 1847 Surveyor J.C. Burnett reported on what he saw while sailing up Petrie’s Wide Bay river and soon settlers were to follow establishing their wharf sites and inns on the banks of the river at Baddow.
When Queensland became a separate colony in 1859, its first parliament realised the importance of having accurate marine charts made of its long coastline. To achieve this they joined together with other Australian colonies to have the Admiralty send out proper hydrographic surveyors to accurately chart their coastlines, harbours and rivers by the scientific method of triangulation. Under this arrangement the colony was to bare half the cost (£1500 per annum) and provide a vessel for the survey. The Admiralty for their part would provide the surveyors, instruments and prepare the final charts.
The officer chosen for the survey was James Jeffrey, master in the Royal Navy. Arriving in Queensland in 1862 with his wife, he was soon at work on the survey of the entrance to the Wide Bay port. At this time the port had received its first immigrant vessel direct from England and was fast becoming a port for the pastoral stations in the area as well as servicing the timber getters.
For the survey Jeffrey had a 60 foot schooner built in Sydney which he called the Pearl. He was a man of considerable experience and for the survey he was assisted by Donald Matheson who had served under him on the Scottish survey and who had followed him out to the colony.
Jeffrey saw the potential of the Maryborough area and purchased several blocks of agricultural land on the banks of the Mary river and named his residence, Frankstone. Jeffrey was also a difficult man and in some circles was unpopular as a local Police Magistrate.
In 1865, he was replaced as Marine Surveyor by Edward Parker Bedwell after a very public dispute with William Davidson, District Surveyor of the Surveyor General’s Office in Maryborough. This public airing of their dispute caused the Admiralty to retire him. Jeffrey continued to farm in the area until 1872 when he returned home to England.
After the discovery of the Gympie gold field, the amount of shipping coming to the area increased, which resulted in Bedwell continuing the nautical surveys in the area between 1868 and 1870.
These two men were the first surveyors to chart the Hervey Bay area in any great detail.
Bill Kitson is writing a book on these early marine surveyors who charted our Queensland coastline between 1861 and 1914.

Information supplied by Bill Kitson 
Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying
Land and Spatial Information, Department of Natural Resources and Mines
T: (07) 3330 4756
E: museum@dnrm.qld.gov.au
W: www.dnrm.qld.gov.au
Level 2 | 867 Main Street | Woolloongabba Qld 4102 | GPO Box 2454, Brisbane Q 4000
Published with consent from Bill Kitson

Tags #widebay #survey #maritime #Flinders #Petrie #Jeffrey #Bedwell #Maryborough #FraserIsland #Burnett #Edwardson #Davidson