Northern Territory Library
G.W. Goyder Subject Guide
History of the Expedition
The Goyder survey expedition 1869 – 1870 was led by George Goyder; Surveyor-General from the
South Australia Department of Lands and Survey, and marks a significant chapter in the story of the
Northern Territory. Goyder was sent to the Northern Territory in 1869 to complete a land survey and
select a site for the capital. One hundred and fifty men were selected for the expedition and within six
months they had surveyed 269,683 hectares, identified further land for growing tropical products and
recommended Palmerston as the site for the capital.
Published Works
Brown, John Ednie.
A Practical Treatise on Tree Culture in South
Australia. Adelaide : Forest Board, 1881.
De La Rue, Kathy.
The evolution of Darwin, 18691911 : a history of the Northern
Territory's capital city during the
years of South Australian
administration. Darwin : Charles
Darwin University Press, 2004.
NTC 994.295 DELA
De La Rue, Kathy.
Goyder's diary: index of people. Darwin : Kathy De
La Rue, 2002.
www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/216866
Goyder , G. W.
South Australia: water conservation and
development. Adelaide : Government Printer, 1883.
Goyder, G.W.
Mr. Goyder's report on Victoria land regulations.
Adelaide Advertiser, April 28, 1870.
Goyder, G.W.
Diary of Surveyor-General Goyder, 1869. Darwin :
Dept. of Lands, 1980.
Goyder's diary for the period 5th February - 1st March
1869, transcribed by officers of the Dept. of Lands.
NTC PAM B526.9 GOY
Goyder, G W.
Destruction of rabbits: instructions for using
bisulphide of carbon and mode of preparing and
using phosphorised grain. Adelaide : Govt. Printer,
1885.
D
Department of Arts & Museums
e
Helyar, Geoffrey.
They led the way: A short account of the Lands
Survey Department of the Northern Territory 18691978. Darwin : Department of Lands and Housing,
1990.
NTC 351.823 HEL
Kelly, W.S.
Centenary of Goyder's Line.
Reprinted from "The Chronicle" June 6, 13, 20, 1963.
Adelaide : Libraries Board of South Australia, 1963.
925.269 KEL
Kerr, Margaret.
The surveyors : the story of the founding of
Darwin. Adelaide : Rigby, 1971.
NTC 994.295 KER
McArthur, Anne (ed.).
Through the eyes of Goyder master planner:
transcripts of the Surveyor-General's 1864-5
detailed valuations of 79 pastoral runs in the
south east of South Australia. Mount Gambier, S.
Aust. : Kanawinka Writers and Historians, 2007.
Powell, Alan.
Far Country : a short history of the
Northern Territory. 6th ed. Darwin :
CDU, 2015.
NTC 994.29 POWE
Reece, Bob. “Palmerston (Darwin):
four expeditions in search of a
capital”. in The Origins of
Australia's Capital Cities.
Melbourne : Cambridge University
Press, 1989.
NTL 994 ORIG
Sheldrick, Janis.
‘Goyder's Line: the unreliable history
of the line of reliable rainfall’. In A
Change in the Weather: Climate
and Culture in Australia. Canberra:
National Museum of Australia Press,
2004: 56-65, 201-202.
NTL 304.25 CHAN
South Australia. Survey Dept.
Official atlas of South Australia including the
Northern Territory. Adelaide : Surveyor-General's
Office, 1885.
Compiled from the most recent information in the
Survey Department, Adelaide, under the direction of
G. W. Goyder, Surveyor General.
Online maps omit Northern Territory.
Rare Map – NTC SP COLL FOL 912.942 OFF
South Australia. Surveyor General's Office.
Goyder, G.W. Northern exploration : letter from the
... surveyor-General enclosing report of Mr. G.W.
Goyder, of his expedition into the Northern
districts of the colony. Adelaide : Govt. Printer
1857.
Also issued as South Australia. Parliament. House of
Assembly. Votes and proceedings.
Williams, Michael.
George Woodroofe Goyder : a practical
geographer. Adelaide : Salisbury C.A.E., 1982.
Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society of Australasia (S.A. Branch)
Inc.. Vol. 79, 1978.
NTC PER 910 ROYA
Parliamentary papers
South Australian Parliamentary Papers (SAPP)
available on microfilm at the library.
Goyder, GW. and Freeling, A.H.
Northern exploration: letter from The Hon. the
Surveyor-General, enclosing report from Mr. G.W.
Goyder of his expedition into the northern
districts of the colony. Adelaide : Government
Printer, 1857.
SAPP, no.72, 1857.
Goyder, G.W. Survey of land, Northern Territory,
etc. Adelaide : Government Printer, 1866.
SAPP, no. 128, 1866.
NTC 333.18 GOYD
Goyder, G.W. Remounts for Indian Army. SurveyorGeneral’s report on Indian Remount service, Northern
Territory. 23 November 1869.
SAPP no. 155 1869.
Papers relating to Goyder’s Survey
Expedition (1868-72)
SAPP no. 81 (1868-9): Tenders for Survey, Northern
Territory. Return to Order of the House (Mr.Cottrell,
28th August, 1868), for copies of all correspondence
not already before the house referring to the survey of
the Northern Territory Lands between the
Government, and Mr. Gregory, the Surveyor-General
of Queensland, and other persons, who may have
tendered or made propositions for the survey, since
the return of Mr. McKinlay from the Northern Territory.
SAPP no. 100 (1868-9): Tenders for surveying with
Surveyor-General; report thereon, with sketch of Mr.
Finniss’ surveys.
SAPP no. 101 (1868-9): Surveyor-Generals estimate
of cost of survey of land in the Northern Territory.
SAPP no. 175 (1868-9): Northern Territory Survey
Expedition. Instruction to G. W. Goyder, SurveyorGeneral, to proceed to Territory for the purpose of
surveying.
SAPP no. 177 (1868-9): Reports on vessel “Sea
Ripple” : reports of surveyors &c., on schooner for
use of Northern Territory survey party (Goyder’s).
SAPP no. 193 (1868-9): Vessels offered for Northern
Territory Service, with terms and tonnage, to convey
Goyder’s party to Territory. 27 January 1869.
SAPP no. 31 (1869-70): Northern Territory Survey
Progress reports by Mr. Goyder, dated March 2nd,
1869, and May 3rd, 1869.
SAPP no. 157 (1869-70): Survey of the Northern
Territory. Copy of Surveyor-General’s report (G.W.
Goyder) on progress of survey. 27 September 1869.
SAPP no. 161 (1869-70): General plan showing
natural features of the country, towns, reserves, roads
& sectional lands at, and in the vicinity of Port Darwin,
Northern Territory of South Australia, surveyed during
1869 by Mess’rs. Woods et.al.
SAPP no. 201 (1869-70): Bonus to Northern Territory
Survey Party. Correspondence re bonus to members
of Goyder’s expedition. 25 January 1870.
SAPP no. 204 (1869-70): Plans of survey of near Port
Darwin and Palmerston, Southport, Virginia, and Daly
townships. Map soon to be loaded to HistoryNT.
SAPP no. 32 (1870-71): Surveyor-General’s
description of soil, and name of surveyor of land
already formed into hundreds.
SAPP no. 46 (1870-71): Cost per acre of surveys,
number of miles actually marked on ground during
surveys; average number of miles and acres marked
out per diem by each surveyor; amount of all bonuses
and allowances exclusive of salary. 14 June 1870.
SAPP no. 57 (1870-71): Officers and Men in
Northern Territory Service : List of officers and men,
with rates of pay, with estimated cost of contingencies
for land and sea service for 1870.
SAPP no. 118 (1863): Report on routes to River
Murray.
SAPP no. 127 (1863): Annexation of Northern
Territory.
SAPP No.89 (1872): Names of persons excluded
from terms of bonus for extra work in Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 133 (1863): Proposed Northern Territory
land regulations.
Papers relating to North Australian
Exploration 1860-1875.
SAPP no. 28 (1864): Survey of South Australian
coast.
South Australia. Parliament.
[North Australian exploration 1860-1875]. 1 v.
South Australia : Govt. Printer, 1860. Consists of the
following:
SAPP no. 55 (1860): Cost of Mr. Goyder's survey
party.
SAPP no. 98 (1860): Cost of and work performed by
survey department.
SAPP no. 161 (1860): Cost of exploring expeditions.
SAPP no. 172 (1860): Proposed survey of Australian
coasts.
SAPP no. 177 (1860): Mr. Goyder's report on
northern triangulation.
SAPP no. 111 (1864): Passage for stock to Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 130 (1864): Instructions to Major
Warburton.
SAPP no. 149 (1864): Passage of stock through
Queensland.
SAPP no. 150 (1864): Northern Territory land sales.
SAPP no. 163 (1864): Reports from Northern
Territory. Boyle Travers Finniss. 12 October 1864.
SAPP no. 195 (1864): Report from Major Warburton.
SAPP Map: Upper part of the Adelaide River.
SAPP no. 70 (1861): Survey of Australian coast.
SAPP no. 82 (1865): Report of Surveyor-General on
northern runs.
SAPP no. 71 (1861): Ocean postal service
repayments.
SAPP no. 84 (1865): Marine survey of Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 147 (1861): Instructions to Mr. McKinlay.
SAPP no. 79 (1866): Proceedings of surveying
schooner "Beatrice".
SAPP no. 170 (1861): North Australian expedition.
SAPP no. 180 (1861): Annexation of additional
Territory to South Australia.
SAPP no. 83 (1866): Despatches from Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 185 (1861): Report from Burke relief party.
SAPP no. 131 (1866): Exploration of Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 27 (1862): English and Australian mail
service.
SAPP no. 246 (1874): Examination of Lake Eyre.
SAPP no. 75 (1862): Survey of Australian coast.
SAPP no. 114 (1875): Report on the Lake Eyre
Expedition.
SAPP no. 129 (1862): Progress report of coast
survey.
SAPP no. 95, (1876): Reports on northern mineral
lands.
SAPP no. 218 (1862): Instructions to Mr. McKinlay.
SAPP (1878): Report on the North-west trigonometrical
survey. 23 November 1878.
SAPP no. 70 (1863): Annexation of Northern
Territory.
SAPP no. 77 (1863): Survey of South Australian
coast.
SAPP no. 92 (1863): Postal service with Great Britain.
SAPP no. 106 (1863): Sorting English mail on board
steamer.
SAPP no. 113 (1863): Extension of South Australian
boundary.
Unpublished Manuscripts
Bennett, John William Ogilvie.
English-native vocabulary of the Woolner dialect,
Adelaide River, 1869.
Photocopy made from the original in the State Library
of South Australia (ref. GRG 35/256); includes a map
showing location of Larakia, Woolnah (Wuna) and
Warnunger; some place names in area listed.
trove.nla.gov.au/version/20423432
Theses
Sheldrick, Janis M.
Nature's line : George Goyder over South
Australia. 1999.
Ph.D Thesis. School of Literary and Communication
Studies of the Faculty of Arts, Deakin University.
Nicholson, Charles. ‘On Forrest's expedition into
the interior of Western Australia, Goyder's survey
of the neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the
recent progress of Australian discovery’.
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.
Vol.14, 15 August 1870.
NTC PER 910 ROYA
On Forrest's expedition into the interior of
Western Australia, Goyder's survey of the
neighbourhood of Port Darwin, and on the recent
progress of Australian discovery 1870. Royal
Geographical Society. Session 1869-70, Ninth
meeting, 28 March 1870.
trove.nla.gov.au/version/20483554
Pamphlet
Williams, Michael. ‘George Woodroofe Goyder: a
practical geographer’. (Paper based on Presidential
address to Society, 6 July 1978) Proceedings of the
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. South
Australian Branch. Vol.79, 1978: 1-21.
Goyder, G.W. Diary of Surveyor-General Goyder,
1869. Darwin : Dept. of Lands, 1980.
Goyder's diary for the period 5th February - 1st March
1869, transcribed by officers of the Dept. of Lands.
‘Mr C. Winnecke’s last explorations in the
Northern Territory, South Australia’. Proceedings
of the Royal Geographical Society. No. 6, 1884:
566-569.
trove.nla.gov.au/version/7348108
trove.nla.gov.au/version/19951818
G.W. Goyder, leader of the epic Northern Territory
Survey Expedition of 1869 : biographical notes on
Goyder's Survey Expedition. Darwin : Dept. of
Lands, Division of Survey and Mapping, 1984.
NTC B919.4295 GOYD
trove.nla.gov.au/version/27020522
Journal Articles
Bunker, Raymond. ‘The colonisation of the Northern
Territory 1864 / 1870: second time right: colonial
beginnings’. Australian Planner. Vol. 26, no. 3,
September, 1988: 8-10.
NTL Storage PER 711 AUST
De La Rue, Kathy. ‘On the
waterfront’. Origins Magazine.
Edition 1, 2007: 44-45.
NTC PER 378 CHAR
www.cdu.edu.au/sites/default/files/mace/d
ocs/origins-ed1-2007.pdf
Online Databases
Online databases are available for use within the
library.
Goyder, George Woodroffe (1826 - 1898) Australian
Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 4, Melbourne University
Press, 1972: 278-280.
adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040316b.htm
Heathcote, R. L. ‘Goyder's Line: a line for all
seasons?’ South Australian Geographical
Journal. Vol.103, 2004: 73-94.
[This article was originally published in 1981 in Carr,
D. J. and Carr, S. G. M. (eds). People and Plants in
Australia. 1981: 295-321.]
NTL 581.0994 PEO
search.informit.com.au/fullText;res=APAFT;dn=200507828
Meinig, Donald. ‘Goyder's Line of rainfall: the role
of a geographic concept in South Australian land
policy and agricultural settlement’. South
Australian Geographical Journal. Vol.104, 2005:
105-114.
search.informit.com.au/fullText;res=APAFT;dn=200608505
McGowan, Barry. ‘Goyder's Line’.
Heritage (Australian Heritage Society). Vol. 9, no.
3, Spring, 1990: (12) 18.
(Revised and updated version of an article published
in the Canberra Historical Journal, March 1990).
McGowan, Barry. ‘Goyder's Line: Australia's first
environmental debate?: an historical perspective’.
(Expanded version of address to Canberra and
District Historical Society, 1989).
Canberra Historical Journal. no.25, March 1990:
28-35.
NTL Storage PER 994.7 CANB
[This paper is reprinted from Agricultural History.
Vol. 35, 1961: 207-216 with the permission of the
journal and author.]
Williams, Michael. ‘George Woodroofe Goyder: a
practical geographer: the Presidential Address,
1978’. South Australian Geographical Journal.
Vol.106, 2007: (84)-105.
search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=200807131;res=IELAPA
Microfilm
Goyder, G. W.
Northern Territory Survey Expedition, 1868-1870
diary. Adelaide : State Library of South Australia,
Photographic Service, 1980.
nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an2891853
Maps
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Goyder, G. W.
Diagram shewing lands sold between the years
1835 and June 1892. Adelaide: Surveyor General's
Office, 1892.
Graph in bar chart format the total acreage of land
sold and rented annually from 1935 to 1892 and the
amount of money raised that year. A set of statistical
totals at the foot of the graph shows the total acreage
sold for cash as well as under different types of credit
agreements and the money so accrued for each.
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1176
General plan showing natural features of the
country, towns, reserves, roads, & sectional lands
at, and in the vicinity of Port Darwin, Northern
Territory of South Australia [map] signed G.W.
Goyder. Australia, 1872.
Describes natural features from Fred's Pass to Port
Darwin examined during the month of February 1869.
Route taken shown in coloured ink. Copy made by
Bessie Threadgill of original in Home and Territories
Office, Melbourne.
NTC Rare Map 2
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm3447
Goyder, GW.
Plan of the South Arm [Port Darwin, Northern
Territory]. Canberra, 1968.
Facsimile of ms. map of Haycock Reach, Middle Arm,
from Diamond Island,(unnamed island near Storm
Point) up the Blackmore River almost to Tumbling
Waters. Shows Government jetty, rocks and sand
bars, features and water courses entering the river.
Detail confined to river and reach. Drawing made
during Goyder's expedition, by a member of his
Northern Territory survey Party, 1869, or by a
member of the Government Resident's Party, 1870.
Photograph of an original held by the Northern
Territory Archives Service.
nla.gov.au/nla.map-vn42155
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Goyder, G.W. Southport. Street plan and lot
numbers from Goyder's 1869 survey, on which
have been noted ruins surviving at an unknown
date’.
trove.nla.gov.au/version/22363868
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Copy of rough plan shewing explorations by Mr
Winnecke. Adelaide : Surveyor General's Office,
1880.
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1250
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Goyder, G.W. Copy of rough plan shewing
explorations by Mr Winnecke. Adelaide : Surveyor
General's Office, 1882
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1251
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
‘Copy of rough plan shewing explorations by Mr
Winnecke’. Adelaide : Surveyor General's Office,
1882.
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1248
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia: South
Australian Branch. ‘Map shewing rivers of the
Northern Territory of South Australia to
accompany paper read by Captain Carrington before
the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A.
Branch, November 1st 1886’. Adelaide : Surveyor
General's Office, 1886.
nla.gov.au/nla.map-rm1259
South Australia. Surveyor-General's Office.
Goyder, G.W. Plans of South Australia. Adelaide:
Surveyor General's Office, 1878.
Compilation of cadastral and topographic, black and
white maps of South Australia and the Northern
Territory of South Australia, produced in the Surveyor
General's Office of South Australia by G.W. Goyder,
1878 - 1883.
trove.nla.gov.au/version/8401030
territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/159284
territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/157891
Territory Stories contain photographs and documents from the Goyder survey expedition.
territorystories.nt.gov.au/handle/10070/217053
The Goyder survey expedition was a truly significant chapter in the ongoing story of the Northern Territory.
Having these unique images in the Northern Territory Library collection gives us a wonderfully real link with that
distant past. These historic photographs give us a better appreciation of those untamed early days, before Darwin
became the exciting City we now see.
Aside from their cultural significance, these distinctive stereoscopic images are also fascinating examples of early
3D photography, first used in 1840.
The photographs depict members of the expedition, the new settlement and the surrounding scenery, and the
men are seen at work and around their camps, clearly showing the isolation of the tropical north.
These historic photographs give us a glimmer of insight into what life would have been like and to help us
appreciate those rough early days.
Photographers during the expedition were Joseph Brook; the official photographer and Samuel White Sweet; a
sea captain who sailed twice to the Northern Territory and joined the Goyder expedition on both occasions.
These images are extremely rare and are an important photographic record of the foundation of Darwin, showing
how our modern city began its life as a small collection of tents and huts.
Contact Details
Phone: 1800 019 155
or (08) 8999 7177
Email:
ntl.info@nt.gov.au
Fax:
(08) 8999 6927
Post:
GPO Box 42, Darwin NT 0801
Location: Parliament House, Darwin
www.ntl.nt.gov.au
More information and other subject guides available through the NT Library website.