The Royal Australian Survey Corps was initially formed on 1st July 1915. While being one of the smallest corps in the Australian Army, it made a significant contribution to the defense mapping of Australia as well as Papua New Guinea, the South West Pacific Islands and Indonesia. Its Latin motto ‘Videre Parare Est’ means ‘To See is to Prepare’ and was formally adopted by the corps in 1965. In their 81 years, the corps made significant contributions to the mapping of Australian and surrounding countries; supported the forces three major conflicts and maintained a worldwide reputation for its technical mapping prowess.
This memorial was constructed in recognition of their 81 years of active service up until their disbandment in 1996. With the decision of Alan Griffin as the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, a funding of $3900 was given to the Survey Ex-Servicemen’s Association of South Australia in 2008 to fund this memorial along the Pathway of Honour.
The memorial plaque reads:
Royal Australian Survey Corps
Videre Parare Est
1 July 1915 1 July 1996
Military MapmakersTo commemorate 81 years of service to Australia and to honour the men and women of the corps who served our nation with dedication at home and abroad in peace and in war
Australia France Middle East
Papua New Guinea Borneo
Vietnam Indonesia SW Pacific NationsErected by the Survey Ex-Servicemen’s Association of South Australia
Sponsored by the Department of Veteran Affairs
Military Mapmakers
Origins of this corps begins in 1907 where military mapping was an activity of the Australian Intelligence Corps. A survey section of the Royal Australian Engineers was formed in 1910 to make this a full time unit focus which could cope with the increased mapping needs and tasks of the army. It was only until 1915 that the Australian Survey Corps was officially formed as part of the Permanent Military Forces. All members of the previous Survey Section, Royal Australian Engineers were transfered into this corps under the command of Lieutenant Lynch.
All but three other ranks of this corps enlisted into the Australian Infantry Forces during World War I. In their service, photography (both aerial and ground) were taken for mapping and field plotting methods to aid on-going conflicts and planning. The survey corps was returned to its previous Survey section under the Engineers corps between 1921 – 1932. During this time limited mapping continued and, with the aid of the RAAF, aerial photography formed an important role in mapping techniques. By 1932, the corps was reformed with a total of 14 servicemen. This number increased to thirty five by 1935.
The Survey Corps reached its largest numbers in World War II, with an estimated 5,500 servicemen and women performing mapping tasks. Units served both at home and overseas including the Middle East, Borneo, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. By the end of the war, the corps produced a total of 1,419 maps to aid the war effort. Though the corps decreased signficiantly by mid-1947, they were given the ‘Royal’ prefix in recognition of their service. From the 1950’s up until its disbandment in 1996, the Royal Australian Survey Corps conducted extensive geodetic surveys and mapping in each of the mainland states. This National Mapping Program covered at a scale of 1:250,000 by 1965 and greatly improved the previously poor military mapping of the Australian continent post-WWII.
The disbandment of the corps followed the advent of the Wrigley report. This report lead to the reform of defence activities and caused many to become civilianised programs for public service organisations. During these reforms, the Survey corps assets were considered too small to be a corps operation. This resulted in the disbandment of the corps on the 1 July 1996 while the duty of topographic support was reinstated back to the Royal Australian Engineers.
