William Wedge Darke (1810–1890) was an Australian colonist and surveyor, the son of John Darke of Hereford and Elizabeth Darke, née Wedge, and younger brother of John Charles Darke and a nephew of John Helder Wedge from whom he learnt his profession. He arrived in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

in 1827 with his parents, younger brother Henry and sister Elizabeth. In the early 1830s he was in private practice in Van Diemen's Land as a surveyor, then moved 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 ...

where he joined the survey department. In 1836 he was sent as an Assistant Surveyor under Robert Russell to survey the new settlement at

Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...

. At

Darke carried out some of the first surveys of the new town of Melbourne and was instrumental in laying out the streets of the new town for sale at the first land auctions. He had numerous disputes with

Robert Hoddle Robert Hoddle (21 April 1794 – 24 October 1881) was a surveyor and artist. He was the first Surveyor-General of Victoria from 1851 to 1853. He was previously the Surveyor-in-Charge of the Port Phillip District from 1837 to 1851. He became ...

and was eventually engaged on a contract basis. Darke brought a wooden caravan from Sydney and set up camp with his family near Robert Russell's wood and daub hut on the south side of the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower st ...

in what is now central Melbourne. The caravan, dubbed 'Darke's Ark', had two rooms and a piano, and was drawn by bullocks to locations convenient to his surveying duties around Port Phillip. The caravan was eventually left at the beach as a bathing house. For a time Darke located his caravan at the seaside in what is now the inner city suburb of

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

after cutting the first track through the tea tree scrub. He hoisted a barrel on a pole, on high ground to point the way back to the Melbourne settlement and this led to the area's early name of 'Sandridge'. The earliest permanent white settler of

and talented amateur artist, Wilbraham Liardet was working on an illustrated history of Melbourne before his death and in a 1913 news article, drawn from Liardet's work, an early impression of Darke's 1837 camp – with 'Darke's Ark and 'barrel on a pole' – was published. In 1843 he returned to

. In 1846 he was an Assistant Colonial Surveyor and lived with his wife and family in Pitt Street, Sydney. In April 1860, notice was given that Darke had been appointed a licensed surveyor. Many of his field notebooks are held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney.

References

Australian surveyors 1810 births 1890 deaths {{Australia-bio-stub