John Busby (24 March 1765 – 10 May 1857) was an English-born
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
and
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
, active in Australia. __NOTOC__
Early life
Busby was born in
Alnwick
Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116.
The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...
, Northumberland, England, eldest son of George Busby, a miner and coalmaster of Stamford, and his wife Margaret, ''née'' Wilson, of Dunstan, Northumberland. Busby became a coal miner and later a mineral surveyor and civil engineer in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and was employed on various public work projects, including the provision of a water-supply for
Leith
Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.
The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
fort. Busby received two of the
Highland Society's awards; firstly for inventing machinery for ascertaining the nature of rock strata by boring, and secondly for developing a method of sinking through quicksands, clay and gravel beds. In 1810 he was employed on the Irish estate of the marquess of Downshire.
He married Sarah Kennedy in 1798 in Scotland. They had six sons and two daughters, all born in Scotland.
Australia
Busby and his family emigrated to
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia arriving at Sydney on 24 February 1824. He was engaged as mineral surveyor and civil engineer to the colony at a salary of £200 a year for 200 days in each year.
In June 1825 Busby made an interesting report on the state of the water-supply of Sydney, and suggested that a supply could be drawn from "the large lagoon in the vicinity of the paper mill" to a reservoir in
Hyde Park from which it would be distributed throughout the city by pipes. The mill referred to was in the neighbourhood of the present corner of Bourke and
Elizabeth Streets,
Waterloo. In January 1826 he made a second report, in which he suggested expense could be saved by driving a tunnel into Sydney. This was begun, and in February 1829
Governor Darling stated in a dispatch that it was "quite impossible to dispense with Busby so long as the work in which he is employed introducing water into Sydney is in operation".
Busby's salary had in the meantime been increased to £500 a year, and the colonial office had questioned the necessity of retaining his services any longer and demanded a report on the project in 1832. The water-supply scheme was not completed until September 1837. It had involved the excavation of a tunnel about 12,000 feet (3,660 m) long, but the proposed reservoir at Hyde Park with pipes throughout the city was not gone on with. Busby's appointment terminated on the completion of the waterworks, and in August 1838 the payment to him of a sum of £1000 was sanctioned as a gratuity.
Sydney's first efficient water supply became known as "
Busby's Bore". In this he was assisted by his son, William.
Late life
Busby retired to his country property ''Kirkton'' on the
Hunter River Hunter River may refer to:
*Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia
*Hunter River (Western Australia)
*Hunter River, New Zealand
*Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada
**Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada
...
which had been granted to him and died there on 10 May 1857.
His grave and that of his wife is still preserved as of today at Kirkton (2011).
He was the father of
James Busby
James Busby (7 February 1802 – 15 July 1871) was the British Resident in New Zealand from 1833 to 1840. He was involved in drafting the 1835 Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand and the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. As British Residen ...
, who is widely regarded as the "father" of the Australian wine industry.
References
*G. P. Walsh,
Busby, John (1765–1857), ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 1,
MUP, 1966, pp 188–189.
*
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, John
1765 births
1857 deaths
English emigrants to colonial Australia
People from Alnwick
British mining engineers
People from New South Wales
English surveyors