Water and forestry two conservation themes for George Goyder, South Australia's surveyor general (1861 to 1893)

The forestry office (at left) at Bundaleer in South Australia's mid north where South Australia's first commercial timber plantation was started in 1876. Forestry was one of the issues pushed by South Australia's surveyor general George Goyder (inset) along with water conservation and using artesian bores.

Water and forests were two major conservation theme pursued by George Goyder in his many-faceted, innovative  and prolific career as South Australia’s surveyor general (1861-1894).

Goyder’s conservation always balanced the need to are for nature with the providing human needs. Goyder achieved the start of South Australia’s government woods and forest department in 1882 – the first in Australia and the then-British empire. His persistent campaign towards this started in 1870 with a report confirming his belief in surveys before settlement, with forests to be planted where settlement could be anticipated and where forests could be expected to thrive.

Goyder pushed South Australia to innovate regarding forests beyond other Australian colonies by realising that a government-funded department would be needed to set them up. After his 1870 report, he saw a government select committee appointed to investigate forest reserves. Three years later, an Act to encourage forest tree planting became law. If failed. In 1875, South Australian forest board, a first in itself, was legislated. But Goyder kept persisting until 1882 when the Woods and Forests Act created the woods and forests department. 

Goyder’s extensive time spend in the South Australian outback reinforced his constant attention to conserving water.Starting with wells and dams on northern South Australian stock routes, Goyder persuaded the government to spend £300,000 on drainage in the southeast  region in 1867.

In 1871, he inspected pumping machinery and irrigation works in Britain and the United State of America and returned to Adelaide with deep knowledge of boring for artesian water. He advised many pastoralists on water problems and rejected impracticable schemes such as irrigating the Adelaide plain by a canal from the River Murray. His paper on developing water conservation in 1883 indicated the scope of his inquiries.

Goyder’s legacy was remembered in 2010  when Goyder Institute for Water Research will provide independent scientific advice on South Australa’s water system. The Goyder Institute aimed to  improve the state government’s ability to forecast threats to water security and develop an integrated approach to watch management. The institute was a partnership between the state government, the federal CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Adelaide University, University of South Australia, Flinders University, the South Australian Research and Development Institute and the Australian Water Quality Centre of SA Water utility.