Person

Fyfe, Wallace Vernon (1894 - 1982)

Born
7 April 1894
South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
17 January 1982
Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Public servant and Surveyor

Summary

Wallace Fyfe was a surveyor and valuer noted for his contribution to the conduct of Government business in Western Australia. For 17 years from 1921 he was a Valuer with the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury in Perth before a brief appointment as Secretary to the Department's National Insurance Branch in Canberra. He then returned to Perth as Surveyor General for Western Australia, an office he held until 1959 with an hiatus as Chairman of the War Service Land Settlement Scheme between 1945 and 1948. As Surveyor General Fyfe investigated the pastoral industry in leasehold areas of the State, encouraged the development of aerial mapping and geodetic surveying, and oversaw projects to assess land potential in low-rainfall areas and survey the Kimberley region. In 1944, for the Commonwealth Rural Reconstruction Commission, he made an Australia-wide survey of land laws, valuation systems and tenures. Fyfe served as Chairman of several government bodies including the Soil Conservation Committee (1939 - 1945) and the Land Settlement Board (1948 - 1956). He took leading roles in the Western Australian Branches of the Institution of Surveyors, Australia, and the Commonwealth Institute of Valuers, serving terms as President of both. In retirement he established a surveying practice, The Fyfe Hills in Antarctica were named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

July 1916 - September 1919
Career event - Served with the Australian Imperial Forces
1921 - 1926
Career position - Land valuer, Australian Department of the Treasury
October 1921
Career event - Registered as a licensed surveyor
1926 - 1938
Career position - Senior Valuer, Australian Department of the Treasury
1931
Career position - Foundation Board Member, Western Australian Division, Commonwealth Institute of Valuers
1932 - 1975
Award - Fellow, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia
1934
Career event - Associate, Commonwealth Institute of Accountants
1935 - 1938
Career position - President, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia
1937 - 1938
Career position - President, Western Australian Division, Commonwealth Institute of Valuers
1938
Career position - Secretary, National Insurance Branch, Australian Department of the Treasury
1938 - 1945
Career position - Surveyor General, Western Australian Department of Lands and Survey
1938 - 1948
Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Land Purchase Board
1939 - 1945
Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Select Committee of Advice on Manpower
1939 - 1945
Career position - Chairman, Soil Conservation Committee
1941 - 1948
Career position - Chairman, Pastoral Industry Debt Adjustment Committee
1945 - 1946
Career position - Western Australian Representative, National Mapping Council
1948 - 1956
Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Land Settlement Board
1948 - 1959
Career position - Surveyor General, Western Australian Department of Lands and Survey
1948 - 1959
Career position - Western Australian Representative, National Mapping Council
April 1959
Life event - Retired
1975 - 1982
Award - Life Fellow, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Fyfe, Christopher, Fyfe: Surveyor General (Claremont (W.A.): Lana Press, 2012), 246 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • 'Wallace Vernon Fyfe', Australian Surveyor, 31 (4) (1982), 284-5, https://doi.org/10.1080/00050326.1982.10435004. Details
  • Fyfe, W. V., ' Surveying the rabbit proof fence: outline of the explorations and surveys of the late Mr A. W. Canning', Early days, 3 (2) (1939), 42-8. Details
  • Fyfe, W. V., 'Exploration surveys and mapping in Western Australia in recent years', Journal and proceedings, Western Australian Historical Society, 5 (2) (1956), 39-44. Details

Resource Sections

Helen Cohn

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