The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government

Government of Western Australia

The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...

 surveying

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

 in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

.

In the early history of Western Australia

History of Western Australia

The human history of Western Australia commenced between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago with the arrival of Indigenous Australians on the north-west coast. The first inhabitants expanded the range of their settlement to the east and south of the continent. The first recorded European contact was in...

, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices. The first surveyor general, John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...

, was responsible for the laying out of many townsites, including Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 and Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

, and played a prominent role in the politics

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 of the day. Another surveyor general, John Forrest

John Forrest

Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....

, became Premier of Western Australia

Premier of Western Australia

The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...

, and later a Cabinet minister in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's first federal government.

In modern times, the position of surveyor general has diminished in importance. It remains a statutory office, and is housed within the current agency named Landgate

Landgate

Landgate, formerly the Department of Land Information , the Department of Land Administration and the Department of Lands and Surveys is the statutory authority responsible for Western Australia's property and land information.-Current activities:Landgate maintains the official register of land...

.

List of surveyors general of Western Australia

This is a list of surveyors general of Western Australia.

Surveyor General	Period in office
John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...	1829-1872
Malcolm Fraser Malcolm Fraser (surveyor) Sir Malcolm Fraser KCMG was a powerful public servant in colonial Western Australia in the 1870s and 1880s.Malcolm Fraser was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1834. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he must have qualified as a surveyor at some stage, and that he emigrated to New...	1872-1883
John Forrest John Forrest Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....	1883-1890
John Sherlock Brooking	1887-1896 (acting to 1890)
Harry Johnston Harry Johnston (surveyor) Harry Frederick Johnston was Surveyor-General of Western Australia from 1896 to 1915.Harry Johnston was born in 1853, as a grandson of Marshall Clifton. He qualified as a surveyor. In 1884, he led a surveying expedition to the Kimberley region of Western Australia...	1896-1915
Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman Frederick Slade Drake-Brockman was a surveyor and explorer of Western Australia.Born 9 July 1857 at Seabrook near Northam in Western Australia, he was the son of Edmund Ralph Brockman, gentleman-farmer, and Elizabeth Deborah née Slade. He was educated at Bishop Mathew Hale's school and articled in...	1915-1917
Henry Sanford King	1918-1923
John Percy Camm	1923-1938
Walter Vernon Fyfe	1938-1945
Thomas Suter Parry	1945-1948
Walter Vernon Fyfe	1948-1959
Harold Camm	1959-1968
John Frank Morgan	1968-1984
William George Henderson	1984-1986
Henry James Houghton	1986
Christopher Alan Grant	1987-1990
Henry James Houghton	1991-2001
Eugene Michael Browne	2001-2003
Kenneth Alexander	2003-2004
Grahame Searle	2005-2008
Michael Bradford	2008-Present