Percival, Arthur (1879 - 1964)

Summary

Arthur Percival was Surveyor-general and Chief Property Officer for the Commonwealth, responsible for all national surveys and property acquisitions from 1929. His earlier pioneer surveying work included defining the catchments and headworks for Melbourne's water supply for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (1902-09); producing the contour base map used in the design competition for the Federal capital (1910); defining the boundaries of the Australian Capital Territory; and laying out Canberra and surveying dam sites on the Cotter and Queanbeyan rivers.

Details

After arriving in Australia in 1897, Arthur Percival was engaged on mining surveys and engineering works in New South Wales and Queensland. In 1902 he joined the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works. During World War I he surveyed defence establishments in New South Wales and Victoria, carried out hydrographic work in Spencer Gulf, South Australia, and reported on land values for war service homes subdivisions. Next Percival was appointed Officer-in-charge of the property and survey branches of the Department of Home and Territories in Melbourne (1920-1929). This was followed by a post as Commonwealth surveyor-general and chief property officer in Canberra 1929-1944. After his retirement (1944?) he was retained as an adviser on land transfers for Garden Island naval facilities.

Chronology

1897

Life event - Migrated to Australia (New South Wales?)

1902 - 1909

Career position - Surveyor, Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works

1910 - c. 1914

Career position - Surveyor, Federal Territory, Home Affairs

1914 - 1919

Career position - Surveyor, defence establishments across Australia

1920 - 1929

Career position - Officer-in-charge, Property and Survey Branch, Department of Home and Territories in Melbourne

1927

Career event - Foundation member, Canberra Artists' Society

1928 - 1929

Career position - President, Victorian Institute of Surveyors

1929 - 1944

Career position - Commonwealth Surveyor-General and Chief Property Officer in Canberra

1930

Career event - Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1930

Career position - Advisor to the Australian Survey Committee

1930 - 1934

Career position - President, Canberra Artists' Society

1933 - 1939

Career position - Member, Australian Commonwealth Shipping Board

1934

Career position - Advisor to the Australian Survey Committee [urging a national geodetic and topographical survey]

1936 - 1939

Career position - Chairman, Australian Commonwealth Shipping Board

1938

Award - Companion of the Imperial Service Order (ISO) - Commonwealth Surveyor-General's Department

1939

Career position - Chairman, Inter-departmental sub-committee on the aerial photographic survey of Australia

1943 - 1944

Career position - Chairman, Canberra Advisory Council

1945 - 1950

Career position - President, Canberra Artists' Society

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Atchison, John, 'Percival, Arthur (1879-1964), Surveyor-General' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 198-199. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110204b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Percival, Arthur, 'The selection of Canberra as the capital site', Report of the twenty-fourth meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, Canberra meeting, January, 1939 (1939), 193. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Anon, 'Obituary : Arthur Percival - Pioneer Surveyor', The Canberra Times (1964), 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131741174. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21535806. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93900834. Details
• 'Percival, Arthur (1879-1964)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-588834. Details