Precised from the Introduction to Volume 1 1826 - 1835
by Dr Marion Hercock

The story of the Western Australian Explorers' Diaries Project (incorporating the Historical Records of Western Australia) begins with the collection of exploration reports and journals prepared by the founding Surveyor General of the Swan River Colony, John Septimus Roe. During his term in the Survey Office, Roe attempted to transcribe every journal of exploration in Western Australia, from 1827. The heavy, leather-bound volumes in the State Archive bear witness to many hours of work, the handwriting clearly reflecting the energy or lethargy of the writer. After Roe retired in December 1870 the collection of exploration reports was not updated. Although the Survey Office (later the Lands and Surveys Department) continued to hold surveyors’ field books, journals and reports, these documents were not kept in a single form of reference. There was no perceived need for a single, comprehensive and accurate transcript of expeditions of exploration.

However, almost a century after Roe’s retirement, the need for a central record of exploration documents arose as the result of technological change in the methods of surveying.

In the 1950s, the Lands and Surveys Department started a major survey using aerial photography to map the topography of the state. Up to that time, and even in the 1960s, maps of the remote parts of the state, beyond the developed areas, were still largely based upon explorers’ estimates of distance and direction. Landscape features fixed by survey methods and calculation were reasonably accurate, but many explorers were not trained surveyors, and as a result, their estimates were less reliable. Aerial photography distinguished 20th century methods of land survey from those used in the 19th century. But aerial photography did not translate readily onto the maps of the day. When the cartographers studied and interpreted the aerial photographs in conjunction with existing maps, they found that the location of many features, such as hills, did not match.

One of the main sources of reference for names and the origin of names was a set of six volumes of exploration journals from 1827 to 1871. This collection, prepared in 1966, consisted of bound photocopies of typescripts, made in the early 1920s of the Lands and Surveys’ record of exploration journals. Entitled Exploration Diaries, this material is held by the Battye Library. But these typescripts proved to be an unreliable source of information as many words, including the names of places and people, had not been accurately transcribed. In addition, many diaries of explorations were missing from these volumes.

In 1980 and 1981 Lands and Surveys were approached by Peter Bridge (Hesperian Press) for permission to reproduce departmental maps. By 1981 the idea of publishing a comprehensive, accurately reproduced collection of the exploration diaries, journals and reports made to, and collected by, the Surveyor General’s Office was being seriously discussed.  In December that year, the Surveyor General approved the proposal to publish the diaries held by the department.  But almost 20 years would elapse before the project would commence in earnest.

In early 2000, Kim Epton (who had prepared a table of documents for publication) and Peter Bridge formally approached the Department of Land Administration with a program for publication, as well as nominating a Project Committee which included Brian Goodchild and Ian Elliot. The Project Committee applied to the Heritage Council of WA for a grant to fund the printing of the first volume.  The allocation of $20,000 from the Council towards the project meant that the real work could begin.

Details of the 1826 - 1835 Volume

Important Aspects of the Project

The Constitution of the Western Australian Explorers' Diaries Project