Survey Chain

Surveyor’s chain used to survey the City of Adelaide by Isaac Guley.

History

This surveyor’s chain is believed to have been used by Isaac Guley in surveying the City of Adelaide with Colonel Light. There are no records of Isaac arriving in South Australia but the 1841 census shows him, his wife Mary Ann and three children living in ‘District A’ immediately north of Adelaide. He is recorded as being a farmer with land near West Beach. This is an example of a Gunter’s chain of a type dating back to the seventeenth century. The chain was donated to the Migration Museum by Mrs Gwendoline Howarth, the great-grand-daughter of Isaac Guley.

Significance

Colonel Light’s vision of Adelaide as a ‘planned city’ made surveying an important part of South Australia’s colonial history. Tools like this surveyor’s chain were used to measure the land and to draw boundaries. This type of surveyor’s is indicative of the largely unchanged technologies and methods available to surveyors at the time of South Australia’s colonisation.  

Description

Surveyor’s chain, measuring an imperial chain made up of 99 links 187 mm in length with one smaller link measuring 55 mm in length. These links are joined by wire loops or rings. A wire hand hold is positioned in each end. Only two indicating markers remain. Both are 25 links from their respective hand holds.