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James Larmer (b. 1808 or 1809 – d. 1886) was a government surveyor in the colony of New South Wales. Between 1830 and 1859, he surveyed land, roads and settlements in New South Wales. He was an Assistant Surveyor to the Surveyor-General, Sir Thomas Mitchell, from 1835 to 1855. In 1835, he was second in command of Mitchell's second expedition. He is also noteworthy for his recording of Aboriginal words from various parts of New South Wales.


Early life

Larmer was born in
Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...
, Surrey, England and arrived in Sydney in October 1829 to take up his appointment as a survey draftsman. Title deed information, from his time in Australia, shows his full name as James Gulley Larmer.


Career

Between 1830 and early 1835, James Larmer surveyed land, roads, streets, coastlines, creeks, rivers, and ridges in what is now
greater Sydney Greater Sydney is the most populous metropolitan area in Australia and Oceania. Located in the state of New South Wales, it encompasses the City of Sydney (the state capital), its neighbouring local government areas and surrounding regions. I ...
, in nearby areas including Broke and Branxton in the Hunter,
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, Mangrove Creek,
Broken Bay Broken Bay, a semi-mature tide-dominated ria, drowned valley estuary, is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about north of Sydney on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies ...
and
Pittwater Pittwater is a semi-mature tide dominated Ria, drowned valley estuary, located about north of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies of water that separate greater Metropolitan Sydney from th ...
around the
Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River (Dharug language, Dharug: Dyarubbin) is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle ...
, and in more distant parts including the
Abercrombie Abercrombie may refer to: People * Abercrombie Lawson (1870–1927), botanist and professor * Abercrombie (surname) (list of people with the family name Abercrombie) Places Antarctica * Abercrombie Crests, rock summits in Antarctica Australia ...
, Campbells, Belubela,
Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
, and Macquarie Rivers. During 1835, Larmer was second-in-command of Thomas Mitchell's second expedition, which attempted to follow the
Darling River The Darling River (or River Darling; Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka''), is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth. Including its long ...
downstream to its confluence with the
Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trus ...
. Larmer, in command of the main party, left
Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
and met Mitchell at Boree, east-northeast of modern-day Cudal. The expedition first went overland, followed by the
Bogan River Bogan River, a perennial river that is part of the Macquarie– Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west and Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia. From its origin near Parkes, the Bogan River ...
, and then the Darling from the location of modern-day Bourke. While near the Bogan, the expedition's botanist, Richard Cunningham, went off searching for plants and became lost. It was Larmer who led a party that searched for him for a number of days, finding his dead horse and other evidence of his likely demise. Larmer produced a map sketch showing Cunningham's probable route. The expedition stopped to the north of the
Menindee Lakes The Menindee Lakes is a system of 9 large, but relatively shallow lakes, located in south-west New South Wales on the Darling (Barka) River, about upstream of the Darling River's junction with the Murray River. The Darling River is fed by nine ...
, due to the risk of attack by hostile Aborigines, falling short of their objective—but in no doubt that the Darling continued to the Murray—and then retraced their route to return. The connection of the Murray and the Darling, would be confirmed for settler colonists, in 1844, when Charles Sturt's third expedition, following a river upstream from its confluence with the Murray, reached the site of Mitchell's last camp. In 1837, Larmer had reserved a village site for
Ulladulla Ulladulla () is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has cl ...
. In 1837, he laid out the town plan of
Bungendore Bungendore is a town in the Queanbeyan Region of New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is on the Kings Highway, Australia, Kings Highway near Lake George, New South Wales, Lake George, the Molonglo River Valle ...
, in 1838
Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...
, and, in 1839, the town plans of
Broulee Broulee is a town on the south coast of New South Wales between Batemans Bay and Moruya. At the , the town had a population of 1,717. Just off the beach is Broulee Island, currently joined to the mainland, but in past years the connecting spit ...
and Braidwood. In 1840, he surveyed the route of
The Wool Road The Wool Road (also later known as 'The Old Wool Road') was a Historic roads, historic road in New South Wales, Australia, that ran from Nerriga to what is now called Vincentia, New South Wales, Vincentia on Jervis Bay. It was constructed privat ...
. By this time, he had settled in the Braidwood area, where he was to live for the rest of his life and be a prominent citizen. Larmer bought land in Braidwood, in 1843, on which he built the Royal Hotel building but was not the licensee of the hotel. In 1841, he reserved the site for a village at Currowan, although the plan of the village, in 1844, was the work of his surveyor colleague and explorer, the ill-fated
Edmund Kennedy Edmund Besley Court Kennedy J. P. (5 September 1818 – December 1848) was an explorer in Australia in the mid-19th century. He was the Assistant-Surveyor of New South Wales, working with Thomas Mitchell (explorer), Sir Thomas Mitchell. Kenned ...
. In 1840, he reserved the site for a village of Elrington, named after
William Sandys Elrington Major William Sandys Elrington (1780–1860) was a British military officer, veteran of the Peninsula War, and colonial settler of New South Wales, Australia. He is associated with the locality of Farringdon and the village of Majors Creek, bot ...
, which would later be better known as Majors Creek. Larmer also laid out plans for townships along the road from Braidwood to Jervis Bay (The Wool Road). Some of these towns never eventuated at all, and others were not built in the form planned by Larmer. His plan for
Larbert Larbert (, ) is a town in the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley above the River Carron (Forth), River Carron which flows from the west. Larbert is from the shoreline of the Firth of Fo ...
would prove disastrously inept, after the site was inundated by the Shoalhaven River flood of July 1853. However, his mistakes at Larbert had no malicious intent, because Larmer himself had bought three lots within the Larbert township site, in 1843. An economic depression in the early 1840s led to government cost cutting, with surveyors’ salaries being reduced by a third. In recognition of this sacrifice, these government surveyors were allowed to do some private work. In 1844, Larmer was appointed as the Licensed Surveyor for the County of Murray and Commissioner for Crown Lands for the same area. In 1847, Larmer's plan of the village of
Gundaroo Gundaroo is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and in Yass Valley Council. It is situated to the east of the Yass River, about north of Sutton, about west of the Lake George range. At the , Gundaroo "sta ...
was gazetted and — as a Commissioner for Crown Lands — he identified people who were
squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
, without authority, on crown lands along the
Yass River The Yass River, a perennial river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the Southern Tablelands and South Western Slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The ...
downstream of that village. In 1849, he designed the plan of the village of
Murringo Murringo is a small village in the southwestern slopes of New South Wales, Australia in Hilltops Council. It was once better known as Marengo. The name is also applied to the surrounding area, for postal and statistical purposes. History The are ...
and, In 1851, he surveyed a road from that new village to the Burrangong Station (near modern-day
Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one's age is low, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an America ...
). The town of
Gundagai Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...
was gazetted, in 1838, but it was soon obvious—after the floods of 1844 and 1852—that much of the original town site was subject to inundation. In 1845, Larmer was surveying new town allotments on the higher ground of the original town. In the eyes of some, he was held responsible for the original plan of the first town on the flood-prone river flats; he definitely drew up plans of town allotments in Gundagai in 1841. In 1850, Larmer laid out plans for extensions to the separate settlement areas of 'South Gundagai' and 'North Gundagai', to allow residents to be relocated and overcome the problem of flooding on the river flats. Also in 1850, he made provision for a village site, on the
Lachlan River The Lachlan River (Wiradjuri: ''Kalari'', ''Galiyarr'') is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New Sou ...
at what would later become the town of
Narrandera Narrandera ( ), until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the central Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell Highway, Newell and Sturt Highway, Sturt highwa ...
. In 1851, he surveyed the site of the Roman Catholic church and presbytery in
Jugiong Jugiong ( ) is a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality and Town#Australia, town on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River near its confluence with Jugiong Creek. in the Hilltops Council Local Government area, New South Wales, Australia. It ...
. He also laid out cemeteries at Yass and
Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...
, In 1852–1853, Larmer was working on surveying the route of a road from Braidwood to Broulee, which was planned to run via Araluen to the
Moruya River The Moruya River is an open and trained mature wave dominated barrier estuary or tidal river is located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. In its upper freshwater reaches, the river is known as the Deua River. Course and ...
. Such a road was not completed until the late 1860s. Instead, the major road to the coast was the Clyde Road (modern-day Kings Highway), which opened in 1858. In 1858, a surveyor Larmer laid out the plan of the gold-mining village of Majors Creek but James Larmer's name was already on the list of those receiving government pensions by October 1857. Majors Creek was the work of his nephew, who was also a surveyor. James Larmer's last field notes date from 1859, and it appears that he retired completely from surveying around that time. Larmer became a Justice of the Peace at Braidwood in 1859. With other JPs, he presided over cases in the town's Police Court, until 1885. His cases included some involving relatives and associates of the notorious
Clarke brothers The Clarke gang was a group of bushrangers active in the mid-1860s in the southern goldfields of New South Wales, Australia. The membership of the gang fluctuated over time, the two core members being brothers Thomas and John Clarke, from the Br ...
and other
bushranger Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in The bush#Australia, the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia ...
s, who were members of the Clarke-Connell extended family. He was one of the magistrates who, in 1866, committed John Clarke (Senior)—father of the Clarke brothers—for trial for the murder of an Aboriginal man, Billy Noonang. In May 1867, Thomas and John Clarke, the surviving members of their gang, were remanded, at the Police Court in Braidwood, for trial in Sydney. However, it was Larmer's colleague, John William Bunn, who was the magistrate who committed them for trial, although Larmer, possibly, may have been present. In 1860, Larmer was proposed as a candidate for the Braidwood electoral district at the 1860 elections, but he did not stand for election.


Aboriginal languages vocabulary

The Surveyor-General, Thomas Mitchell, had directed that, where possible, the existing names, in the local Aboriginal language, should be used as the official names of localities and landforms in New South Wales, which then also included what is now Victoria and Queensland. This was for pragmatic reasons, rather than stemming from any wish to preserve native cultures; in his journal, Mitchell wrote that, ''"‘The great convenience of using native names is obvious … so long as any of the Aborigines can be found in the neighbourhood … future travellers may verify my map. Whereas new names are of no use in this respect"''. Consequently, the surveyors of the colony were among those few settlers who took an interest in local languages. They were also working in places where the local people were still living on their traditional lands and speaking their own languages and dialects. Larmer recorded Aboriginal words and the areas in which these words were used. His work, collated as ''“James Larmer’s Vocabulary of Native Names” (1853)'', is one source for fragments of the vocabulary of lost and endangered Aboriginal languages. It is based on his earlier hand-written notes, some dating back to the early 1830s. His lists include words from the Darkinyung,
Awabakal The Awabakal people , are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional te ...
,
Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...
and
Eora language The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...
s, and the
Dhurga language The Dhurga language, also written Thurga, is an Australian Aboriginal language of New South Wales. It is a language of the Yuin people, specifically the Wandandian and Walbunja groups, but there have been no fluent speakers officially record ...
dialects spoken by the
Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...
peoples around
Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...
and
Ulladulla Ulladulla () is a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia in the City of Shoalhaven local government area. It is on the Princes Highway about south of Sydney, halfway between Batemans Bay to the south and Nowra to the north. Ulladulla has cl ...
. There is a list of the Aboriginal language names for the land features and localities of
Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
.


Legacy

Although Larmer recorded and thus preserved something of Aboriginal culture, his work as a surveyor was essential in furthering the
colonisation 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...
of Aboriginal lands. Most significantly, by marking boundaries—defining
leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a Lease, lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title (property), title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold right ...
and
freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
landholdings—and officially assigning titles to
settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...
s, Larmer and the other surveyors were legitimising—at least under the colonial laws of his time—the dispossessing of the land's Aboriginal inhabitants; it was the first step in the process of extinguishing what would much later—in 1992—be recognised as
Native Title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty to that land by another colonising state. The requirements of proof for the recognition of ab ...
over those pieces of land. From July 1837 to end June 1840, in just three years of his lengthy surveying career, Larmer alone had surveyed 160,443 acres, out of a total of 875,089 acres of land that was surveyed and so taken from its
traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...
. The best land for cropping, grazing, and other agricultural purposes was also the most bountiful land for Aboriginal food sources. The alienation and clearing of their traditional lands and the loss of natural flora and fauna had an enormous impact on the original inhabitants; it effectively forced them onto
Crown Lands Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...
,
Aboriginal reserves An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...
, the lands of other Aboriginal peoples, or to the margins of the new settlements, and so caused the disruption or end of their culture and traditional way of life. The Georgian-influenced grid-type town plans, of Bungendore, Queanbeyan, and Braidwood, are Larmer's work. He is commemorated in the various 'Larmer' street names, in places in New South Wales such as Broulee, Bungendore,
Howlong Howlong is a town west of Albury, New South Wales, Albury, and is situated on the Murray River which separates the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The town is located on the Riverina Highway. There is a ...
, Jugiong, Majors Creek, Narraweena, Nerrandera, and
Sanctuary Point Sanctuary Point is a town in New South Wales, Australia, under the jurisdiction of the City of Shoalhaven, on the shores of St Georges Basin. It is roughly 25 km south of Nowra, and approximately 200 km south of Sydney. At the , the ...
. The road to
Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village in the Jervis Bay Territory and on the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay, known as the Jervis Bay Terri ...
that he surveyed in 1840,
The Wool Road The Wool Road (also later known as 'The Old Wool Road') was a Historic roads, historic road in New South Wales, Australia, that ran from Nerriga to what is now called Vincentia, New South Wales, Vincentia on Jervis Bay. It was constructed privat ...
, was a failure and rapidly fell into disuse, until it was realigned and rerouted to
Nowra Nowra () is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated po ...
in 1856; much of the modern Braidwood Road still follows Larmer's survey. His hotel building in Braidwood is now used as the Braidwood Museum.


Family

James Larmer married, Martha Stoyles, widow of the licensee of the Royal Hotel, Braidwood, in 1861. They had two daughters, as well as the five daughters and three sons of Martha's first marriage. His younger brother, William Larmer, migrated to Australia in 1853. William was an early
pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...
in Sydney, president of the Pharmaceutical Society, and member of the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales, who after 1865 also became involved in
homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...
. Larmer's nephew, W.E. Larmer, was also a surveyor in New South Wales from 1854, leading on occasion to confusion about the two surveyors. He is responsible for laying out the town plan of Majors Creek and for surveying the route of a road linking the Braidwood district to Goulburn (modern-day Goulburn Road)


Death

James Larmer died on 5 June 1886, aged 77 years. At the time of his death, Larmer was believed to be the last surviving member of Mitchell's second expedition. His grave lies in the Braidwood cemetery. His wife Martha died in 1899.


References


External links

*
State Library of New South Wales ''- “James Larmer’s Vocabulary of Native Names” (1853)''

Braidwood Museum - the former Royal Hotel, Braidwood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larmer, James 1886 deaths English surveyors English emigrants to colonial Australia Explorers of Australia People from Reigate 1800s births Australian surveyors