Person
Fyfe, Wallace Vernon (1894 - 1982)
- Born
- 7 April 1894
South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 17 January 1982
Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Public servant and Surveyor
Summary
Wallace Fyfe was a surveyor and valuer noted for his contribution to the conduct of Government business in Western Australia. For 17 years from 1921 he was a Valuer with the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury in Perth before a brief appointment as Secretary to the Department's National Insurance Branch in Canberra. He then returned to Perth as Surveyor General for Western Australia, an office he held until 1959 with an hiatus as Chairman of the War Service Land Settlement Scheme between 1945 and 1948. As Surveyor General Fyfe investigated the pastoral industry in leasehold areas of the State, encouraged the development of aerial mapping and geodetic surveying, and oversaw projects to assess land potential in low-rainfall areas and survey the Kimberley region. In 1944, for the Commonwealth Rural Reconstruction Commission, he made an Australia-wide survey of land laws, valuation systems and tenures. Fyfe served as Chairman of several government bodies including the Soil Conservation Committee (1939 - 1945) and the Land Settlement Board (1948 - 1956). He took leading roles in the Western Australian Branches of the Institution of Surveyors, Australia, and the Commonwealth Institute of Valuers, serving terms as President of both. In retirement he established a surveying practice, The Fyfe Hills in Antarctica were named in his honour.
Details
Chronology
- July 1916 - September 1919
- Career event - Served with the Australian Imperial Forces
- 1921 - 1926
- Career position - Land valuer, Australian Department of the Treasury
- October 1921
- Career event - Registered as a licensed surveyor
- 1926 - 1938
- Career position - Senior Valuer, Australian Department of the Treasury
- 1931
- Career position - Foundation Board Member, Western Australian Division, Commonwealth Institute of Valuers
- 1932 - 1975
- Award - Fellow, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia
- 1934
- Career event - Associate, Commonwealth Institute of Accountants
- 1935 - 1938
- Career position - President, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia
- 1937 - 1938
- Career position - President, Western Australian Division, Commonwealth Institute of Valuers
- 1938
- Career position - Secretary, National Insurance Branch, Australian Department of the Treasury
- 1938 - 1945
- Career position - Surveyor General, Western Australian Department of Lands and Survey
- 1938 - 1948
- Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Land Purchase Board
- 1939 - 1945
- Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Select Committee of Advice on Manpower
- 1939 - 1945
- Career position - Chairman, Soil Conservation Committee
- 1941 - 1948
- Career position - Chairman, Pastoral Industry Debt Adjustment Committee
- 1945 - 1946
- Career position - Western Australian Representative, National Mapping Council
- 1948 - 1956
- Career position - Chairman, Western Australian Land Settlement Board
- 1948 - 1959
- Career position - Surveyor General, Western Australian Department of Lands and Survey
- 1948 - 1959
- Career position - Western Australian Representative, National Mapping Council
- April 1959
- Life event - Retired
- 1975 - 1982
- Award - Life Fellow, Western Australian Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Fyfe, Christopher, Fyfe: Surveyor General (Claremont (W.A.): Lana Press, 2012), 246 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Wallace Vernon Fyfe', Australian Surveyor, 31 (4) (1982), 284-5, https://doi.org/10.1080/00050326.1982.10435004. Details
- Fyfe, W. V., ' Surveying the rabbit proof fence: outline of the explorations and surveys of the late Mr A. W. Canning', Early days, 3 (2) (1939), 42-8. Details
- Fyfe, W. V., 'Exploration surveys and mapping in Western Australia in recent years', Journal and proceedings, Western Australian Historical Society, 5 (2) (1956), 39-44. Details
Resource Sections
- Fyfe, Christopher, 'Fyfe, Wallace Vernon (1894 - 1982)', in Australian Dictionary of Biography vol. 17, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 2007. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fyfe-wallace-vernon-12519. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 24 April 2023