Charles Hope Harris

Charles Hope Harris FRAS (1846 – 26 June 1915), often referred to as C. Hope Harris, was a surveyor in South Australia, noted for laying out the town of Port Pirie. Lake Harris is named for him.

History

Harris was born in Clare, Suffolk, the fourth son of Congregationalist Rev. Samuel Link Harris (15 January 1807 – 22 January 1894) and Emily Harris (c. 1811 – 27 November 1889), who with their eight children emigrated to South Australia aboard the Asia, arriving at Adelaide in September 1851 and settled in the township of Macclesfield.[1]

He joined the Survey Department as a cadet in the field branch, and was put in charge of a field party in 1865. He spent some time in Melbourne gaining qualifications as a mine surveyor and shire engineer and, duly qualified, began advertising his services as a licensed surveyor in August 1869, operating from an office in Gresham Chambers, King William Street.

In 1871 he was contracted to survey sections of the northern agricultural areas. He laid out the town of Port Pirie on the "spider-web" principle, and also surveyed Laura, Curramulka, Ardrossan, and other towns. He rejoined the Survey Department and in 1874 supervised the trigonometrical survey north-west of Port Augusta, and mapped areas beyond Lake Gairdner, as far as Wilgena, in the process of which he discovered and mapped two previously unrecorded lakes, which by order of Governor Musgrave were named Lake Harris in his honour, and Lake Everard, after the Commissioner of Crown Lands, William Everard.[2]

In 1875 he was transferred to the office staff, engaged on special survey work for the department, which included investigation of sites for the Beetaloo and Barossa reservoirs.[2]

In his last years he was almost totally blind, but with the aid of a young secretary was able to continue exercising his mathematical and curatorial skills.

Other activities

Ignoring the wealth of history and romance wrapped up in the names given by the natives to various natural features and localities, we have obliterated them for the sake of names more dear to viceregal representatives, such as Alice, Caroline, Anna, Joyce, Joanna, Julia, Laura, George, John, and James. Our territorial rights may be equivocal, but this surely does not trouble our conscience so much that we need hasten to destroy every vestige of the people who were once supreme here. We are said to be making history, but are we not lacking in courtesy in effacing the history of a less fortunate people whom we have displaced? . . . . The Romans had a good deal of experience in colonisation, and they were particular to preserve the names of places of the people they conquered. This was ordered upon the ground that names of places chronicle scenes, sights, actions, wisdom, folly, and fate, and are the people's heritage. Camden (A.D. 1856), quoting from Porphyry, a learned Athenian (A.D. 278), notes that barbarous names are emphatic and concise, and considers it the duty of an enlightened people to preserve them, as fixing ideas, images, or conceptions of preceding races. He believes that all native languages are significative; that is, they all have a meaning, and are not mere appellatives. What is here quoted appears to be equally true of names which the Australian aborigines have applied to the distinctive features of their trackless home. It is surely not necessary to close the annals of this in-offensive, simple race. Certainly it is not generous of us to destroy their only records, nor is it wise to exclude from mental view, the panorama of their past.[1]

Recognition

Publications

He also wrote leaflets or booklets on:[2]

He also prepared a comprehensive work on geodesy and practical astronomy (never published), and contributed biographical and historical articles to the Public Service Review, of which he was an editor.

Family

Charles Hope Harris married Margaret Howie (1854–1915) on 30 March 1876. She was the second daughter of Rev. James Howie, of the McLaren Vale Congregational church. Their children were:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "A Notable Surveyor". The Observer (Adelaide). LXXII, (5,548). South Australia. 3 July 1915. p. 50. Retrieved 28 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Officers in the Civil Service". Quiz And The Lantern. X, (503). South Australia. 11 May 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 28 September 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ "Handbook for government surveyors / compiled by C.H. Harris, under direction of the surveyor-general" (4th ed.). Adelaide: Government of South Australia. 1914. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Blackwood Soldiers project:Russell Hope Harris". Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Blackwood Soldiers project:Charles Irvine Harris". Retrieved 28 September 2016.
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