Isaac Stiller at his desk in Brisbane.
Graham Jensen next to the tree believed to have been engraved by J.T. Embley in the original survey 120 years ago.
John Thomas Embley, 1887. Photo supplied by the Queensland Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying.
Surveyors retrace Embley's footsteps
Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) surveyor Isaac Stiller and his colleagues recently retraced the footsteps of legendary Queensland explorer John Thomas (J.T.) Embley.
The surveyors re-mapped the boundaries of Mungkan Kandju National Park on the Cape York Peninsula. The 457 hectare park has not been mapped since Embley first surveyed the site in 1889.
‘We retraced the steps of the original surveyors by tracking down natural features such as hardwood trees,’ Isaac said.
Cairns-based surveyor Graham Jensen found an ironwood tree with original markings believed to have been made by Embley.
The team used GPS during the project, but in some areas the tree canopies were so thick, there was no satellite coverage. Instead they used a ‘total station’, which is a modern version of the theodolite - an old surveying instrument used by the early pioneers.
While the early surveyors such as J.T. Embley produced two-dimensional hand-drawn maps, technological advances mean today's computer-generated maps can provide data in three dimensions.
John Thomas Embley (1858-1937) was a pioneer of Far North Queensland. Born in Victoria, he became a licensed surveyor in Queensland in 1883 and worked in Cape York Peninsula until 1913. The Embley River on which Weipa is situated was named after him.
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Last reviewed: 31 August, 2009
Last updated: 1 September, 2009
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