Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark

General

Also known as

LEUT Bedwell’s Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark at Sandstone Point; Sandstone Point Datum Mark

Classification

State Heritage

Register status

Entered

Date entered

25 November 2022

Type

Exploration / survey / early settlement: Survey mark/peg/post

Themes

2.1 Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Exploring, surveying and mapping the land

5.4 Moving goods, people and information: Using shipping

Construction period

1867, Hydrographic survey bench mark

Historical period

1840s–1860s Mid-19th century

Location

Address

Shoreline off Bayswater Court, Sandstone Point

LGA

Moreton Bay Regional Council

Coordinates

-27.086065, 153.133275

Significance

Criterion AThe place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history.

The Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark (1867) is early important surviving evidence of the British Admiralty’s hydrographic survey of Queensland's coastal waters, harbours and rivers, which became a joint initiative with the Queensland Government from 1862, and the efforts of the British Admiralty hydrographic surveyors, including Navigating Lieutenant (later Staff Commander) Edward Parker Bedwell, RN, who led Queensland’s hydrographic survey from 1866 to 1880. This survey was essential for safe shipping navigation, which was the principal means of early long-distance transport for the colony that facilitated the settlement of remote areas, and the economic development of Queensland.

The establishment of a bench mark at Sandstone Point was an important step in the hydrographic survey of Moreton Bay in the late 1860s, which facilitated the development of the Port of Brisbane. The hydrographic survey produced accurate navigation charts, necessary to identify safe shipping routes through the bay to the Brisbane River.

Criterion DThe place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

The Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark demonstrates the principal characteristics of a British Admiralty hydrographic survey mark in Queensland (its particular class of cultural place), including: inscribed markings (in this instance two broad arrows and a U shape) on a large, fixed, durable object near a body of water, either above or below inundation level, with a recorded elevation above or below a datum (in this case high water spring tides). Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark is important in demonstrating these principal characteristics because it is an early example and retains its integrity.

Criterion HThe place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland’s history.

The Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark has a special symbolic association with the British Admiralty hydrographic surveyors who measured and mapped Queensland’s coastal waters, harbours and rivers, from the 1860s to the 1920s, being tangible evidence of their skills and efforts that were important in facilitating safe shipping and the development of Queensland.

History

The Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark was created in 1867, during the British Admiralty’s hydrographic survey of Moreton Bay. It consists of two broad arrows, both pointing southeast, on either side of a small ‘U’, inscribed on top of a sandstone ledge in the intertidal flats at Sandstone Point, west of the southern entrance to Pumicestone Channel. The bench mark is surviving physical evidence of the joint effort (from 1862) by the Queensland Government and British Admiralty to survey the Queensland coastline, which assisted shipping navigation, and in particular the survey of Moreton Bay (1865-8), which facilitated the development of Brisbane as Queensland’s most important port.

Hydrographic surveying, which developed as a highly specialised branch of surveying in 19th century Britain, mapped the seabed and coastal features to enable safe marine navigation. It included establishing a triangulation network over the survey area, from the mainland to the sea or adjacent islands, with control points on coastal hills or headlands. ‘Coast liner' parties then conducted a land survey of coastal features, recorded high and low water lines, and took soundings to determine the depth and composition of the seabed.[1]

While the ‘mother' survey ship would take soundings in deep water, ‘chicks' (smaller boats, initially rowed and later steam powered) would run lines of soundings from the shore to deep water, using a lead line. Sounding positions were fixed and charted by reading sextant angles between the three nearest control points. Soundings were taken at all tide stages and later corrected for the tide height to create a common datum (a quantity or set of quantities that serve as a reference or basis for calculation of other quantities). The tidal observations were recorded by a tide gauge established nearby. During the survey the tides and datum were related to a permanent bench mark, for use in future surveys. [2] Bench marks were cut by a party who monitored the tides over a lengthy period of time, preferably at a sheltered area with calm water.[3]

Based on the definition contained in Bill Kitson and Judith McKay’s Surveying Queensland 1839-1945: A Pictorial History, and known surviving hydrographic bench marks in Queensland, a bench mark (sometimes called a datum mark) is a point, at a known elevation either above or below an adopted datum (usually sea level), marked on a natural or manufactured, durable, fixed object – or it could even be a particular part of an object.[4] In Queensland, ‘broad arrow’ symbols (used to denote a government survey from 1852) were cut on the side of a rock as an upward pointing arrow, or on top of a rock with the arrow lying horizontally (meaning the upper surface of the rock became the measurement point), as bench marks. Alternatively, metal disks were attached to a rock or concrete, or a broad arrow was cut into a tree. Often a line was cut, balanced on the point of the arrow, as the measuring point for the datum.[5] As well as at Sandstone Point, other confirmed examples of broad arrow bench marks cut into rocks are located in Cairns Harbour (Bessie Point, 1878, QHR 602833); Bowen (waterfront, 1887); and at Princess Charlotte Bay in the Flinders group of islands (1899, by HMS Dart).[6]

The hydrographic survey of Moreton Bay, which spans the traditional lands and seas of the Quandamooka, Kabi Kabi, Jagera and Turrbal first nations peoples,[7] was part of a long-term effort by the British Admiralty to survey Queensland’s coastline and its harbours and rivers. In 1770 Captain James Cook in HM Bark Endeavour was the first British navigator to chart the coast of what is now Queensland. Admiralty surveys commenced after the establishment of the British Admiralty Hydrographic Office in 1795, and parts of Queensland's waters were charted and surveyed by a series of British navigators prior to Queensland's separation from New South Wales (NSW) in 1859.[8]

After Separation, more accurate charts were required as the new colony developed its ports. Coastal shipping was of vital importance to Queensland's economy at the time, given the geographical size of the colony, lack of all-weather roads, and the absence of a coastal railway. In 1860 Lieutenant (later Commander) George Poynter Heath, RN, was appointed as marine surveyor to Queensland's Surveyor-General's Department, and in his first year he surveyed the Maroochy and Mooloolah rivers in the Spitfire. In 1862 he was appointed Portmaster and Marine Surveyor of Queensland.[9]

In 1860-61 Queensland entered into an agreement with the British Admiralty to split the annual costs of hydrographic surveying (then about £3000 per annum). The Admiralty would provide staff and instruments and publish charts, while the Queensland Government would provide the lodging, subsistence, and ‘means of locomotion' for staff.[10] The focus was on charting a safe shipping route along the Queensland coast, but the Admiralty surveyors could also assist the Queensland Government with its river and harbour surveys.[11]

The Admiralty survey of Queensland under the agreement with Queensland began in 1862. Master (later Lieutenant, then Staff Commander) James Jeffery was appointed as Queensland's first Admiralty Surveyor and arrived in the colony in September 1862. He then hired a local vessel to survey the Great Sandy Strait, Hervey Bay, and the mouth of the Mary River, but soon persuaded the Queensland Government to have a surveying schooner constructed. HMS Pearl, a 60 foot 6 inch (18.44m) vessel built in Sydney, came into service in October 1863.[12] This vessel was rigged as a fore and aft schooner, was of 70 tons [71.12 metric tons] burden with a shallow draught, and left Brisbane to complete a survey of Hervey Bay in late October 1863.[13] Between 1864 and 1866 Jeffery surveyed Moreton Bay between Peel Island and Mud Island, Keppel Bay, and the outer route to Point Danger.[14]

Jeffery’s survey of Moreton Bay began in mid-1865.[15] This survey, and its soundings of water depths, was important to the safe navigation of ships across the bay to the mouth of the Brisbane River. During the period of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement (1824-42), most ships that entered Moreton Bay were government vessels, and the preferred route was the southern entrance (also known as the South Passage) between Moreton Island and Stradbroke Island, and a pilot station was established at Amity Point on Stradbroke Island. To prevent smuggling of goods into the penal settlement, in the late 1820s a garrisoned depot was constructed at Dunwich, Stradbroke Island, for transhipping goods to smaller vessels before they were sent up the river to Brisbane. Although the northern entrance was known to be superior by 1838, it was still seen as easier to control shipping through the southern entrance.[16]

As a result of there being a transhipment depot at Dunwich, during the convict period there was no need to improve access for larger vessels into and up the Brisbane River, by dredging channels through the bar at the mouth of the Brisbane River and the mud flats further upriver. However, the introduction of ‘free settlement’ in the Moreton Bay district in 1842 meant that settlers needed to import goods and export their produce, and, although small vessels could reach Brisbane, larger ships had to anchor in the bay, outside the Brisbane River bar, and have their goods and passengers lightered up the river. Although Brisbane was declared a Port of Entry in 1846, a Warehousing Port in 1849, and a customs house was built in 1850, no dredging of the river and its bar occurred before Separation.[17]

Some surveys of Moreton Bay had occurred prior to 1859, but these were not comprehensive. With the assistance of Lieutenant CB Yule commanding HM Surveying vessel Bramble, Captain John Clements Wickham (1798-1864), the Police Magistrate for Moreton Bay from 1842, had surveyed the channels into the bay from the northern entrance in 1846; and added buoys and beacons in 1847, in preparation for the closure of the South Passage as the main entrance. The pilot station had been moved to Cowan Cowan on Moreton Island in 1848. In other efforts to improve maritime safety, Moreton Bay’s first Harbour Master, Captain Frederick Freeman, had been appointed in 1847, and in 1848 more soundings had been added to the chart of the northern entrance by Captain Stanley. The mouth of the Brisbane River, and the anchorage outside the bar, had been surveyed by Yule in 1848, while the Cape Moreton lighthouse [QHR 600257] had been built in 1856.[18] 

By 1859, Brisbane was the most important trading port of the new colony of Queensland, having successfully seen off an early challenge by Cleveland Point, which was supported by Darling Downs squatters as the port for Moreton Bay. The value of the port of Brisbane’s trade during the 1860s well exceeded the second and third most valuable ports, which at that time were Rockhampton and Maryborough.[19] The main impediment to Ipswich – upriver from Brisbane and another rival port – effectively competing with Brisbane was the navigation hazard of Seventeen Mile Rocks, which were not cut through until 1865-6.[20]

Access into the Brisbane River for larger vessels was improved during the 1860s. A channel was dredged through the bar at the river mouth by 1866, and one was cut through the sandbank near Fisherman Islands (to allow larger vessels to reach Lytton) by 1867.[21] Later, cuttings were made in the Upper Flats and Eagle Farm Flats of the Brisbane River by 1872, which allowed large ships to reach Brisbane’s wharves and proved to be a turning point in Brisbane’s rivalry with Ipswich.[22]

In July 1866 Jeffery was replaced as commander of the Admiralty survey by Master (later Navigating Lieutenant, then Staff-Commander) Edward Parker Bedwell (1834-1919). Bedwell was born in St Heliers, Jersey, joined the RN in the late 1840s, served in the Crimean War, and joined the surveying service in 1857, where he worked off the coasts of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. He was posted to Australia as chief assistant to the NSW hydrographic survey in 1864, later taking charge of the Queensland survey.[23] By April 1867 it was reported that a map of the bay between Mud Island and Comboyuro Point (on Moreton Island) had been completed, with ‘Mr EP Bedwell, RN’ and his assistant, ‘Mr Bray’ having undertaken the ‘greater portion’ of the survey of that area.[24]

By March 1868 the entire Admiralty survey of Moreton Bay, along with the coastline between Point Danger and a point 6 miles (9.7km) north of Cape Moreton, had been completed. During the survey the Pearl Channel, between the Central and Western Banks in the north of Moreton Bay, was documented, along with a harbour in ‘Pumice Stone Strait’. It was claimed that the harbour (presumably the anchorage inside the southern entrance to the strait), ‘being in the direction of one of the routes to the Mary River diggings [Gympie] and some of the principal sugar plantations, may become the seat of considerable commerce’.[25]

During the survey, a bench mark, consisting of two broad arrows and a ‘U’ cut into the top of a horizontal sandstone ledge in the intertidal zone, was established at Sandstone Point, in the traditional lands of the Kabi Kabi People.[26] A chart of Pumice Stone Strait (today known as Pumicestone Channel or Pumicestone Passage), published in 1868, noted that it had been surveyed in 1867 by Navigating Lieutenant EP Bedwell, RN, assisted by Navigating Sub-Lieutenant EHS Bray. This chart included the bench mark at Sandstone Point, and the chart’s title noted that the ‘Datum mark [bench mark] cut into ledge at Sandstone Point thus [two vertical arrow symbols] and filled with lead, is one foot [30.5cm] below HW Springs [high water spring tides] in August 1867 & February 1868’.[27] Spring tides do not refer to the season, but to those days twice a month in which the tidal range is greatest (with a higher high tide and lower low tide than usual), due to the linear alignment of the sun and moon with the Earth.[28] The chart, on which the soundings in fathoms (1 fathom being 6 feet, or 1.8m) were reduced to low water spring tides (the usual practice for depth soundings, as this was the lowest water depth that could be expected), also indicated that a tide gauge had been established at Toorbul Point, within the Pumice Stone Strait (just north of the current bridge to Bribie Island). The land near Sandstone Point was labelled as ‘wooded’, while ‘Bonney Farm’ was located at Toorbul Point.[29] In the 1870s, Toorbul Point became part of a sugar plantation owned by Captain Douglas Douglas Hamilton.[30]

The Admiralty survey continued after the Moreton Bay survey was completed. From 1868 to 1879 Bedwell surveyed the coast between Cape Moreton and the north end of the Cumberland Islands (between Mackay and Bowen); the Brisbane, Mary, Burnett and Fitzroy rivers to their principal townships; plus Port Curtis and Bowen. The Bedwell group of islands southeast of Mackay are named after him.[31]

During the Admiralty survey of Queensland’s coastline, various ships were used. The 39 foot (11.89m) steam launch Sabina was built in 1872 to assist HMS Pearl, and in 1878 the 195 ton [198.12 metric tons] screw steamer Llewellyn was chartered to replace the Pearl.[32] Bedwell reported that the steamer could cover much more ground in less time than the schooner.[33] Other survey ships that operated in Queensland during the 1860s and 1870s included HMS Salamander, HMS Virago and HMS Basilisk.[34]

By early 1880 Queensland had decided to withdraw from the Admiralty agreement for financial reasons, and the British navy officers, including Bedwell, were recalled to England. Total expenditure on the Admiralty survey in 1879 was £7961, of which the British government only contributed £2500.[35] However, the HMS Pearl continued to be used by the Queensland Government, undertaking a survey of ports and rivers in the Gulf of Carpentaria under the command of Captain CE Pennefather in the early 1880s.[36]

Despite the withdrawal of the Queensland Government from the joint project, the Admiralty continued its own surveying of Queensland waters, and the ships involved included HMS Alert from 1881, and HMS Dart from 1883. The agreement with Queensland was renewed in 1885, although this time the Admiralty accepted the larger share of costs, and the new Queensland gunboat HMS Paluma was lent to the Admiralty for survey work, charting the coast north of Bowen.[37] This agreement expired on 31 March 1895, but co-operation between Queensland and the Admiralty continued, as a bill was introduced in the Queensland Parliament in late 1894 to continue funding the Admiralty survey (while using a British ship) at a rate of £3270 per year, for six years from 1 April 1895.[38]

In the late 1880s HMS Myrmidon assisted with surveying the Great Barrier Reef, and in 1897 HMS Waterwitch joined northern surveying operations. During surveys, Admiralty crews planted edible plants and released pigs and goats on islands for shipwreck survivors. After Australian Federation in 1901 the Admiralty continued to work off Queensland until c1926, using the HMS Dart, HMS Penguin, HMS Fantome, and HMS Herald. The Hydrographic Branch of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was formed in 1920, and Australia's first naval survey vessel, HMAS Geranium, began surveying the Great Barrier Reef in 1924.[39]

In 2022 the 1867 bench mark at Sandstone Point, cut during the Admiralty survey of Moreton Bay, survives as a physical reminder of the early work of Queensland’s maritime surveyors, in particular the survey of Moreton Bay from 1865-68, which was important to safe navigation within the bay, and the development of Brisbane as a port. The bench mark is an enduring feature with a weathered patina from more than 150 years of tidal inundation, and provides a tangible record of sea levels in the 19th century, against which future sea level rises can be measured.

Description

The Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark (1867) is located at the northern end of Moreton Bay, on the mainland side of the southern entrance to Pumicestone Channel (also known as Pumicestone Passage), which runs between the Queensland mainland and Bribie Island. Situated in the intertidal zone, the bench mark is accessed from Bayswater Court, on foot via stairs and a foreshore walking track.

The bench mark comprises two broad arrows flanking a small ‘U’, arranged in a row running northeast to southwest and inscribed into the top surface of a horizontal sandstone ledge. The marks are below tidal inundation level and were originally filled with lead, which is no longer visible. The arrows point southeast and are set approximately two metres apart. The northeast broad arrow is 0.7 metres wide; the southeast broad arrow is 0.8 metres wide and more legible.

Features of the Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• bench mark location, on a durable, fixed object in a sheltered area with calm water
• bench mark markings, comprising two broad arrows flanking a small ‘U’ chiselled into the surface of the sandstone ledge, with a weathered patina from more than 150 years of tidal inundation
• open space surrounding the bench mark, ensuring a visual relationship with Moreton Bay to the southeast and allowing appreciation of the bench mark’s historical function and origins, and as a record of the 19th century sea level.

Features of the Sandstone Point Hydrographic Survey Bench Mark not of State-level cultural heritage significance include:

• mangroves and other vegetation
• natural marks in the sandstone ledge surface.

References

[1] B Kitson and J McKay, 2006. Surveying Queensland 1839-1945: A Pictorial History. Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water and the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, pp. 67-68.
[2] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.68.
[3] Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 31 May 2022.
[4] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.188. A 1873 survey of the Brisbane River used ‘the top of the stone pier at the quarry’ as a bench mark (south bank of the river, near the site of today’s Gateway Bridge) (‘Australia-East coast Queensland, Brisbane River. Surveyed by Staff Comr Bedwell & Navg Lieutt Connor RN 1873, Corrected to 1881’. Published at the Admiralty, 20 September 1875. (Large correction 1882). http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230057994 (accessed 30 May 2022)).
[5] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.13 (1852 use of broad arrow); Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 31 May 2022 (bench mark types).
[6] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.68 (Princess Charlotte Bay bench mark); Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 31 May 2022 (Bowen bench mark). Both the Bowen and Princess Charlotte Bay bench marks consist of a single vertical arrow with a line balanced on the point of the arrow; whereas the Bessie Point bench mark only consists of a vertical arrow. Unconfirmed broad arrow bench marks were also apparently cut at the north end of Woody Island in the Great Sandy Strait (‘East Coast of Australia, Queensland, Moreton Bay to Sandy Cape, surveyed by Navg Lieutts EP Bedwell and EHS Bray RN and Navg Sub-Lieutt ER Connor RN 1869-70’ published at the Admiralty 1870, large correction 1889), and inside the mouth of Pancake Creek, west of the Bustard Head lighthouse (‘Australia-East Coast Queensland, Sandy Cape to Keppel Isles, from the Australian Government surveys to 1956 and Admiralty surveys to 1870’, published at the Admiralty, 1959).
[7] Cultural Heritage Database and Register, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (Accessed 17 June 2022).
[8] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 68; see also NS Pixley, ‘The Navy and Queensland's development: a long and valuable connection', Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, Volume 11, Issue 2, 1980. pp.10-13. These navigators included Matthew Flinders (1799 in the schooner Norfolk; 1802 in HMS Investigator); Lieutenant Charles Jeffreys (1816-17 in HM Brig Kangaroo); Lieutenant Phillip Parker King (1819-21, HM Cutter Mermaid and HMS Bathurst); Lieutenant John Oxley (1823, HM Cutter Mermaid); Captain Henry J Rous (1827, HMS Rainbow); John Clements Wickham (1839, HMS Beagle); John Lort Stokes (1841, HMS Beagle); Captain FP Blackwood and Lieutenant CB Yule (1843-45, HMS Fly and HM Cutter Bramble); Captain Owen Stanley (1847-48, HMS Rattlesnake); and Captain HM Denham (1858-61, HMS Herald).
[9] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.72; ‘Local Intelligence’, North Australian, Ipswich and General Advertiser, 7 September 1860, p.3 (Lieutenant Heath appointed as surveyor).
[10] The five Australian colonies agreed to jointly fund Admiralty surveys of the Australian coastline in 1860, but a favourable response from the Admiralty did not arrive until 1861 (‘Survey of Australian Coasts', The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth), 7 August 1861, p.3).
[11] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, pp.68-69.
[12] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 69; ‘Shipping Intelligence’, The Courier (Brisbane), 17 December 1862, p.2 (refers to Lieutenant J Jeffery RN); ‘Queensland Coast Survey', The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532 (Staff Commander Jeffery). The surveying schooner Pearl should not be confused with the Harbour Master's schooner Pearl, mentioned in ‘Domestic Intelligence: Moreton Bay Anniversary Regatta', Moreton Bay Courier, 2 February 1856, p.2. The Pearl was lengthened by 4.27m in 1868.
[13] ‘Vessels in Harbour', The Courier, 18 November 1863, p.4. A schooner has at least two masts, and ‘fore and aft' rigging refers to sails that lie along the line of the keel, rather than at right-angles to the keel (square rigged).
[14] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 69; ‘Queensland Coast Survey’, The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532.
[15] ‘Cape Moreton’, The Brisbane Courier, 5 April 1865, p.2 (‘Captain Jeffreys’ [sic] to commence survey of Moreton Bay); ‘Vessels to arrive’, Queenslander, 27 April 1867, p.4 (Pearl had been surveying Moreton Bay for 18 months-2 years).
[16] W Davenport, 1986. Harbours and Marine: Port and Harbour Development in Queensland from 1824 to 1985. Department of Harbours and Marine, pp.18-25.
[17] Davenport, Harbours and Marine, pp.27-28, 45, 47.
[18] Davenport, Harbours and Marine, pp.32-41. The wreck of the Sovereign occurred on the bar of South Passage in March 1847.
[19] G Lewis, 1973. A history of the ports of Queensland: a study in economic nationalism, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, pp.9-10, and Statistical Appendix, pp.271-2. Brisbane remained in first place throughout the rest of the 19th century, with Rockhampton second (except for 1895-99, when Townsville was second), and Townsville third (except for when Maryborough was in third place during the 1860s, and Cooktown during the 1877-9 period).
[20] Lewis, A history of the ports of Queensland, p.10; Davenport, Harbours and Marine, p.105.
[21] Davenport, Harbours and Marine, pp.99-101.
[22] Lewis, A history of the ports of Queensland, pp.50-3. As steamers got larger, river ports either had to dredge their rivers to obtain more depth, or move their ports further downstream (Davenport, Harbours and Marine, p.49). After World War II, the Port of Brisbane progressively moved to the mouth of the Brisbane River.
[23] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 70; ‘Shipping intelligence’, The Argus (Melbourne), 14 October 1864, p.4 (Mr EP Bedwell, RN, arrives in Melbourne on ss Madras); ‘Shipping intelligence’, The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba), 19 July 1866, p.2 (EP Bedwell, RN, arrives in Queensland on City of Brisbane); ‘Vessels to arrive’, Queenslander, 27 April 1867, p.4 (Bedwell and Bray surveying Moreton Bay since ‘July last’); ‘Queensland Coast Survey', The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532; ‘Edward Parker Bedwell’, http://ghgraham.org/edwardparkerbedwell1834.html (accessed 23.5.2022). In June 1877 Bedwell married the widow Emily Harrison (nee Ackerley) in Ipswich. The Royal Navy ranks of Second Master and Master were reclassified as Navigating Sub-Lieutenant and Navigating Lieutenant in 1867 (‘Circular, No. 32.-W. Admiralty, 2nd July 1867’, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/Navy_List_1870/Nav_Offr_Rank_Pay.html (accessed 7 June 2022)).
[24] ‘Vessels to arrive’, Queenslander, 27 April 1867, p.4.
[25] ‘General Summary’, The Brisbane Courier, 23 March 1868, p.4.
[26] Cultural Heritage Database and Register, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, https://culturalheritage.datsip.qld.gov.au/achris/public/public-registry/home (Accessed 8 June 2022). The significance of the U, which is an unusual addition to a bench mark, is unknown (Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 9 June 2022).
[27] ‘Australia East coast. Pumice Stone Strait, Moreton Bay, surveyed by Navg Lieut EP Bedwell RN assisted by Navg Sub Lieut EHS Bray RN, 1867’. c1868, from copy of chart supplied to Bill Kitson by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Taunton, UK (supplied by Applicant). The significance of the U, which is an unusual addition to a bench mark, is unknown (Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 9 June 2022).
[28] ‘What are spring and neap tides?’, https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html (accessed 7 June 2022). Neap tides, in which tidal range is the least (lower high tide and higher low tide than usual) also occur twice a month.
[29] Bill Kitson, Pers. Comm, 9 June 2022 (soundings usually based on low water spring tides); ‘Australia East coast. Pumice Stone Strait, Moreton Bay, surveyed by Navg Lieut EP Bedwell RN assisted by Navg Sub Lieut EHS Bray RN, 1867’. c1868, from copy of chart supplied to Bill Kitson by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Taunton, UK (supplied by Applicant). Several other maps of Moreton Bay and the coastline were published in 1869 (‘East coast of Australia Queensland. Sheet IX, Danger Pt. to Cape Moreton. Surveyed by Navigating Lieutt EP Bedwell, RN Assisted by Navg Lieutt HJ Stanley & Navg Sub-Lieutt EHS Bray, RN 1865-7’. Published at the Admiralty, 30 December 1869 (large correction 1875), http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230057551 (accessed 30 May 2022); ‘Australia-East coast Queensland, Moreton Bay-Northern portion. From the surveys of Staff Comr J Jeffery & Navg Lieut HJ Stanley 1865 and Navg Lieuts EP Bedwell & EHS Bray RN, 1866-68. Northern entrances by EA Cullen, Nautical Surveyor, 1891’. Published at the Admiralty, 1 December 1869 (large correction 1896. This chart includes the bench mark at Sandstone Point), http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230057663 (accessed 30 May 2022); ‘Australia-East coast Queensland, Moreton Bay-southern portion’. Published at the Admiralty 1 December 1869 (Large correction 1876), http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230057885 (accessed 30 May 2022)).
[30] Department of Resources, Deed of Grant 10312153, 1877 (Portion 2, 1280 acres of land, land purchased 1872); ‘Toorbul Point Plantation’ [for sale], The Queenslander, 11 March 1882, p.313. Hamilton had a sugar plantation in the area by 1868 (Queensland Government Gazette, 1868, p.1334: 3000 acres, the resumed half of the ‘Bribie Sections’, leased to JE Bonney, was open for selection, to the west of Hamilton’s sugar plantation). Kilns were constructed by European settlers in the area to burn shells to create lime, an important 19th century building material (‘Defended Cases’, Queenslander, 15 August 1868, p.7).[31] ‘Cruise of the Pearl’, Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and Maryborough Advertiser, 17 October 1868, p.2; ’Surveying the coast'. The Queenslander, 24 September 1870, p.3; ‘Cruise of the Pearl', The Brisbane Courier, 25 December 1877, p.2; ‘Queensland Coast Survey', The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532; Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 70 (Bedwell group of islands). Bedwell was assisted by: Bray from 1867-1870; Navigating Sub-Lieutenant (Navigating Lieutenant from 1872) Edward Richard Connor from HMS Clio from late 1870 to the end of 1878; and Navigating Lieutenant Haslewood for part of 1879. Navigating Sub-Lieutenant A Leeper also assisted from November 1877 to the start of 1880; while the civilian EA Cullen assisted in 1878-9.
[32] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.70.
[33] Davenport. Harbours and Marine, p.122.
[34] Pixley, The Navy and Queensland's development, p.15, p.20.
[35] ‘Queensland Coast Survey', The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532; Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p 70. During Bedwell’s time commanding the Queensland survey, 2000 miles (3,219km) of coastline was mapped, and at least 12,000 square miles (31,080km2) was sounded (‘Queensland Coast Survey', The Queenslander, 24 April 1880, p.532). Bedwell died at the Queen's Hotel, Southport, UK, in 1919 (‘Edward Parker Bedwell’, http://ghgraham.org/edwardparkerbedwell1834.html (accessed 23 May 2022)).
[36] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.73.
[37] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, p.70.
[38] ‘Coastal Survey Bill', The Queenslander, 24 November 1894, p.999; Supplement to the Queensland Government Gazette, 13 December 1894, No. 151; ‘Sydney', Warwick Argus, 2 March 1895, p.2. The bill resulted in the Queensland Coast Survey Act 1894.
[39] Kitson and McKay, Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, pp. 70-71, 74-75; Davenport. Harbours and Marine, p.123; Pixley, The Navy and Queensland's development. p.20 (mentions HMS Herald surveyed Queensland's waters 1924-26); ‘New surveying steamer’, The Telegraph, 26 April 1924 (HMS Herald replaces HMS Fantome in Admiralty survey); ‘Survey ship Herald sent to China Station’, The Telegraph, 9 August 1926, p.2.

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