William Nevin Tatlow Hurst, ISO (11 April 1868 – 24 December 1946) was a senior Tasmanian civil servant. In 1925 he succeeded the Tasmanian Surveyor-General, E A Counsel, as the head of the Tasmanian Department of Lands and Surveys, although with the title of Secretary for Lands.
The Companionship of the Imperial Service Order (ISO) was bestowed upon him in June 1932.
At his retirement in 1938 he had been continuously employed in the department for fifty three years, having joined as a trainee draftsman on 1 July 1885.
Tasmania's capital city, Hobart, was where he spent his life, with the suburb of New Town being his home at his birth in 1868, his marriage in 1899 and at his death in 1946.
Family background As his full name suggests, Hurst's ancestors were from the families of the Tatlows, the Nevins and the Hursts.
Maternal ancestors – Tatlow and Moore Hurst's grandparents, Anthony Tatlow (1791–1861) and Mary Moore (1812–1865) migrated from County Cavan, Ireland, arriving at the Tasmanian port of Hobart Town on 26 June 1833.Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office, TA931 Marine Department, MB2-39-1-1 Reports of ships arrivals with lists of passengers 24 March 1829 – 25 December 1833, Image 194, part 2, url=http://stors.tas.gov.au/MB2-39-1-1, retrieved 13 March 2017.
Their first child, Anthony Tatlow (junior) (1832-1885), made his mark in Stanley, Tasmania.Jones, E 2015, Along the terrace: the owners and occupiers of Stanley 1843–1922, Stanley Discovery Museum, Stanley, Tasmania, p. 158 Since 1982 (150 years after his baptism in the Church of Ireland Parish Church in Drung, County Cavan, Ireland) he has been commemorated by a nature reserve in Stanley, known as the Tatlow's Beach Conservation Area.Tasmanian Government 2015, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, ‘’Placenames Tasmania’’, Land Tasmania, url=https://www.placenames.tas.gov.au/#p1, retrieved 15 February 2017,
Their fourth and youngest child was Louisa Maria Tatlow, born on 27 May 1841 in Launceston.Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Tasmanian Names Index,Births (1803–1933), Image 49, url=https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD33-1-23-p671j2k retrieved 13 March 2017. She married John Hurst on 27 November 1862,Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Tasmanian Names Index, "Marriages", Image 308, https://stors.tas.gov.au/RGD37-1-21p308j2k, Retrieved 18 March 2017. in the River Forth district (77 kilometres west of Launceston).Mather, K 2017, "Nevin Hurst, Secretary for Lands: a quiet achiever", Traverse, April 2017, Institute of Surveyors Victoria, pp.4-5, url= http://www.surveying.org.au/docs/traverse/TRAV312.pdf, retrieved 2 May 2017. John Hurst was recorded on their marriage certificate as a surveyor, although Walch's Tasmanian Almanac has no official record of his being qualified or registered as a licensed surveyor, so he would have been employed as a temporary contractor. John Hurst is sometimes mistaken for John Robert Hurst who was officially recorded as a District Surveyor working in and around Launceston, from 1863 to 1884.Jones, A 1989, Backsight: a history of surveying in colonial Tasmania, Institution of Surveyors Australia Inc., Tasmanian Division, Hobart, p. 180."Road Trusts 1863-1907 and Surveyors 1863-1979/80", Index to Walch's Tasmanian Almanacs, Compiled by the Launceston Branch Tasmanian Family History Society Inc, September 2011, p. 9.
Louisa and John Hurst's first child was a son, William Nevin Tatlow Hurst, who was born in Hobart, 11 April 1868.Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Tasmanian Names Index, Births (1803–1933), Image 349, url=https://stors.tas.gov.au/007368108_00023j2k retrieved 14 March 2017.
Their second and last child was a daughter, Edith Rhoda Hurst who was born in Whanganui, New Zealand, 24 October 1871.New Zealand Government, Department of Internal Affairs, Births, Deaths and Marriages Historical records, Registration Number 1871019764, Wanganui, 28 October 1871.
Paternal ancestors
WNT Hurst's grandmother, Eliza Nevin (1814–1902), was confirmed in St Saviour's Church of Ireland parish church in the small village of Greyabbey, County Down, Northern Ireland.Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Church of Ireland Greyabbey, parish registers, County Down, Diocese of Down, 1807-1843, baptisms, marriages, burials, Microfiche MIC1/48/1.
Although previously a member of the Church of Ireland, Eliza was married to a Presbyterian man, James Hurst (d. 1850), so the marriage was conducted 17 July 1837 by the local Presbyterian Minister David Jeffrey. William Nevin Tatlow Hurst's father, John Hurst, arrived from Northern Ireland at the age of sixteen, with his sister, Mary Jane Hurst, and his mother, Eliza Hurst (nee Nevin).
Education
William Nevin Tatlow Hurst attended the Hobart Town High School and Christ's College Hobart (before it became a university college).
His sister Edith would go on to gain three university degrees, but Hurst did not pursue a university education. As a school-leaver aged 17, he chose to start work in the government Department of Lands and Surveys, as a junior draftsman. His qualifications did not include the certification needed to become a licensed surveyor and he was never registered as such. Instead, his career advanced via senior technical and clerical roles and then management roles within the department.
Community An obituary for Hurst in a local newspaper recalls his keen interest in playing sport and helping to develop and manage various sporting clubs in Hobart, as well as his close involvement with his local church: He formerly was a keen cricketer and played with New Town until district cricket was abandoned during the First World War. He was a foundation member of the Buckingham Rowing Club and supported rowing activities always. He became a member of the Hobart Regatta Committee in 1923, and was made a life member in 1943. ... He was a life-long member of St John's Anglican Church, New Town, and for many years was churchwarden and Synod representative. (Mercury, 26 December 1946)."Noted sportsman dies", Mercury (Hobart), Thursday 26 December 1946, p 9, url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26375723, accessed 17 August 2017.
Employment
Roles
The Department of Lands and Surveys employed professional surveyors on a permanent basis. In busy times it hired unlicensed contract surveyors to support the professionals. The surveyor's role is described by Fryer:
Surveyors of the later 19th century period were concerned mainly with the fair distribution of land. Their main work was in the marking and recording of details of the country being developed. In performing this task, the positions of all creek and river systems, vegetation types, soil types, geological features, the potential of the land for agriculture, etc., were faithfully recorded and the land was evaluated prior to distribution. (Fryer, p.72).Fryer, J (ed.) 1980, Surveying the Hunter: a story of surveyors and their work in exploring and developing New South Wales in particular the Hunter Region, Hunter-Manning Group of Institute of Surveyors Australia and Institution of Surveyors, N.S.W, Newcastle NSW, p.72.
An example of a professional surveyor praised by the Surveyor-General was Hurst's colleague Michael John Flannigan.Mather, K 2016, "Lake Flannigan: honouring King Island’s first district surveyor", Traverse, 308, August, Institute of Surveyors Victoria, pp.3–4, url=http://www.surveying.org.au/docs/traverse/TRAV308.pdf , retrieved 1 September 2016.Mather, K 2016, "Have theodolite – will travel", Azimuth, No 55, Issue 9, October, Institute of Surveyors NSW, pp.14–16.
The Department of Lands and Surveys also employed highly skilled technical draftsmen. They prepared official government cadastral maps representing the physical features of the territory and showing the boundaries and ownership of parcels of land, as these details were brought back from field trips by the surveyors.
Hurst spent the first 22 years of his career occupied as a draftsman. His long career progressed as follows:
1885–1887: Junior Draftsman 1887–1901: Draftsman"Departments under the control of the Minister of Lands and Works", Walch's Tasmanian Almanac 1901, p. 129. 1901–1907: Draftsman-in-ChargeGovernment of Tasmania, Office of the Government Statistician, 1902, "Departments under the control of the Minister of Lands and Works", Statistics for the State of Tasmania for the year 1901, p. 51. 1907–1911: Chief ClerkGovernment of Tasmania, Office of the Government Statistician, 1910, "Departments under the control of the Minister of Lands and Works", Statistics for the State of Tasmania, 1909–1910, p. 57. 1911 (for 5 months, May to September): Acting Surveyor-General"About people", The Examiner, 8 September 1911, p.5. 1912–1925: Assistant Secretary for LandsGovernment of Tasmania, Office of the Government Statistician, 1913, "Statistics of the State of Tasmania for the year 1912–1913", Hobart, Tasmania, pp. 55–56. 1925–1938: Secretary for Lands"Trusted public servants: Messrs Counsel and Farmer to retire", The Mercury, 21 June 1924, p. 6."Secretary for Lands retires", The Advocate, 12 April 1938, p. 2.
Job title E A Counsel was Surveyor-General from 1894 to 1924. The holder of that title traditionally also held responsibility as the Secretary for Lands, reporting to the Minister for Lands and Works. At the time of Counsel's retirement many Tasmanian departments were being re-organized, to reduce costs. The position of Surveyor-General was abolished (not for the first time)."Amended Crown Lands Act", The Daily Telegraph, Friday 26 September 1924, page 6.Tasmanian Government 1925, The Public Service Commissioner’s report for 1924-25, Parliamentary paper 32 of 1925, Hobart, Tasmania. and not restored until 1943.Wettenhall, RL 1968, A guide to Tasmanian government administration, Hobart, Tasmania, p. 129.
Thus Hurst inherited only the title of Secretary for Lands, but held full responsibility for the department which became known as the Department of Lands and Surveys and Closer Settlement. The Scenery Preservation Office also came under his management.Wettenhall, RL 1968, A guide to Tasmanian government administration, Hobart, Tasmania, p. 132-133.
An official photograph of the members of the Lyons Tasmanian state government in 1926, entitled "Labor members of Parliament – M O'Keefe, J Cleary, P Kelly, A Lawson, C Culley, W Shoobridge, JA Guy, J Belton, JA Lyons, AG Ogilvie, J Hurst and G Becker"Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, Miscellaneous Collection of Photographs. 1860 – 1992 (PH30), "Labor members of Parliament – M O'Keefe, J Cleary, P Kelly, A Lawson, C Culley, W Shoobridge, JA Guy, J Belton, JA Lyons, AG Ogilvie, J Hurst and G Becker", 1926, url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/47391501 retrieved 14 March 2017. has been mistakenly thought (anecdotally) to depict William Nevin Tatlow Hurst. However, as the photograph title indicates, it is James Abraham Hurst (1880–1964) who appears in this photograph of ministers of the Lyons government, because at the time he was the Labor member for Darwin, Tasmania. There are similarities between the J. Hurst depicted with Lyons and the younger WNT Hurst who is shown in his grandson's autobiography;Hurst, N 2007, From rabbit traps to Rembrandt: a memoir, Masterpiece@IXL, Hobart, p. 27, but WNT Hurst was nearing sixty years of age and had lost his hair by the time of the 1926 photograph.Tasmanian Government no date, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, ‘’Surveyors General of Tasmania 1882 to 2003 : Honour Board’’, p. 2, url= http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Honour-Board.pdf, retrieved 20 March 2017.
Legacy
Hurst was appreciated in many walks of life: his profession, his sports clubs, and his church and charitable works. One of his obituaries attests to his being well-loved: