surveying

Venus block, Tinnenburra, 1935. This map shows two of Queensland’s major pastoral investment companies abutting one another. Bordering with Thurulgoona, ‘Venus block’ was the most easterly paddock of Tinnenburra. Thurulgoona was owned by the Squatting Investment Company and had leased this land for a number of years. In 1934, the AML&F manager in Sydney, Mr R. Sinclair Smith, informed the Squatting Investment Company of their intention to terminate the agreement and fence off the block within Tinnenburra. In anticipation of the transfer, the local manager of Thurulgoona inspected the fences and found that they did not correspond with the surveyed boundaries. In a letter to his superiors in the Squatting Investment Company, the manager provided this rough map and explained that altering the existing agreement would be complicated. The pegs and original blazed trees were all non-existent and would need re-surveying. This would cost at least £50. The existing north-south fence would then have to be moved 50 chains west. In addition to over seven miles of new fencing, this would cost approximately £250. According to the Thurulgoona manger, the fences were probably put in the wrong place to evade the high sand hill country in the area, not suitable for erecting rabbit proof netting over. As both parties had only limited tenure on their respective leases, changing the arrangement would have no benefit. A more pragmatic solution was therefore chosen. As compensation for keeping Venus, Thurulgoona exchanged a small square parcel of land with Tinnenburra. This provided access to one of Thurulgoona’s bore drains from Tinnenburra’s ‘Gidgie Camp’ paddock and remained a novel feature of the ‘Bluegrass’ pastoral holding after Tinnenburra was sub-divided. Held in archives around Australia, pastoral run files often contain rough hand drawn maps. In this instance they demonstrate how boundaries can be a physical reminder of past activities and corporate decisions. Collection of the Noel Butlin Archives, Canberra