Holmes is notable for his contributions to the field of surveying in Australia and Internationally^[4] including the subdivision of irrigation land for soldiers settlement post World War II in the Maffra and Sale area of Victoria. He conducted preliminary surveys for the construction of Eildon Dam and subsequent subdivision of Eildon township, He was the superintending surveyor for remodelling of the Goulburn irrigation system, undertook investigation and construction surveys for Tullaroop, McKay, and Eppalock dams and for the Castlemaine and Bendigo water supply.

Under the Commonwealth of Australia tide grants scheme he undertook planning and supervision of a 10-year program for an expansion of the knowledge of Victoria’s natural water recourses, including knowledge of water quality. Holmes was also a member and Chairman of the Australian Water Resources Councils Technical Committee on Surface Water, Assistant Chief and Chief surveyor of State Rivers and Water Supply Commissions Survey Division Between 1969-1979.

He was seconded as a member of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission team between 1970-1971 to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation for a project to support the Ethiopian Awash Valley authority in Hydrologic studies and surveys for irrigation development in the African Rift Valley.

Holmes also instituted and substantially completed an accelerated mapping program of Victoria. This involved the production of 1400 map sheets showing topographic detail and contours of the state of Victoria. This topographic map was used as a positional base to identify, plot and digitise all rural and regional township properties in the state.

Holmes acted as chairman of the Planning Committee and had a lead role in the development of Victoria's land information system ([https://www.landata.vic.gov.au/ LANDATA]). He chaired The Surveyors Board for examination and registration of surveyors in Victoria, The Place Names Committee ([https://www.propertyandlandtitles.vic.gov.au/naming-places-features-and-roads/office-of-geographic-names Geographic Names Victoria]) was a member of the [https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/509282?c=people National Mapping Council] of Australia and was an electoral commissioner for redistribution of Victorian Electoral Boundaries^[5]

In his retirement Holmes also worked with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Bank to assist with projects around the expansion of world population and the growing need for security of land tenure in developing countries. 

Biography

Early life

Holmes was born in Dromana at the Bush Nursing Hospital on 2 January 1928. He attended the Red Hill State School. At the beginning of 1940, at age 12, He began in form one (year seven) at Frankston High School. Frankston was the only public High School on the Mornington Peninsula and had a student population of around 350 students.

Scouting was a major part of his life from age 11. For his mapping badge he undertook a plane table survey of the Showgrounds and produced a map showing the location of each of the buildings and features. He used a sheet of three ply on a fence post as his plane table, a ruler with pins for sighting and measured the baseline by counting the number of rotations of his pushbike wheel after having tied a rag around it. This experience obviously had significant impact on his selection of surveying as a career. He was the first King Scout in the Red Hill Troop.

Surveying

Early years

Holmes left school at the end of 1944 undecided regarding his career. He decided on surveying and spoke with the Deputy Surveyor General. He advised him that a path to qualification as a surveyor was to start as a junior draughtsman in the Department of Crown Lands and Survey and in due course to become articled to a surveyor for four years. After visiting the Manpower Planning Authority to gain permission to leave the country and start working with the Department of Crown Lands and Survey, he commenced as a junior draughtsman in May 1945. The Surveyor General suggested that he apply to the Chief Surveyor in the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, who offered him a job starting the next week.

Serving articles

He was articled to surveyor Gordon Fricke at Kerang. To qualify as a Licensed Surveyor he was required to spend four years under Articles and to sit for and pass some 14 subjects set by the Surveyors Board of Victoria, which had reciprocal arrangements with other States and New Zealand. In 1949 he spent 6 months in the titles office and later in charge of preliminary surveys for the construction of the then planned big Eildon Dam reconstruction.

After successfully completing the practical astronomy, field surveys and interview with members of the Surveyors Board, He was granted his Certificate of Competency as a Surveyor on 17th October 1949 and his Licence No.731 as a Surveyor on 18th October 1949.^[6]

Superintending Surveyor North Central Victoria 1953-1964

He supervised surveys for the reconstruction of the Goulburn irrigation system, the construction of dams at Tullaroop, Mckay and Eppalock. Together with water supply surveys to Bendigo and Castlemaine. In 1963 Holmes attended the University of New South Wales and undertook a Post-Graduate course in Engineering Hydrology.

Superintending Surveyor Water Resources 1964 to 1967

The Commonwealth Government created the water Resources Council of Australia and made tied grants available to expand the knowledge of water resources in Australia. Holmes was appointed to manage this task in Victoria. The Australian Water Resources Council established three Technical Committees. One committee for each of, Surface Water, Underground Water and Water Quality. Holmes was a member of the Technical Committee on Surface Water from 1966 to 1979 and chairman of that committee from 1972 to 1977. The Technical Committee on Surface Water co-ordinated stream gauging across Australia and established standards for this work. Holmes developed a proposal to subdivide Victoria into 480 ‘representative basins’. These representative basins were small enough so that rainfall and run-off from the various tributaries within the basin could be considered relatively consistent. Thus the percentage of the total run-off for the area contributed by each tributary would be reasonably consistent. This proposal was approved and implemented over the next 7 years. In 1976 they publish ‘Stream Gauging in Victoria’ showing in metric units, maximum and minimum flows and actual discharge for each gauging stations for every month of record.

Assistant Chief Surveyor 1967 to 1973

In 1967 Holmes was appointed Assistant Chief Surveyor. During this time, dams were constructed at Nillahcootie, Mokoan, Buffalo and William Hovel. A river Murray survey from Hume to Nyah West was commenced. Holmes was responsible for equipment procurement and undertook a program to re-equip field parties.

United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)- Ethiopian Project

In 1970 the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations approached the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission requesting that they supply a team of experts to support a project in Ethiopia^[7]. This project involved the support of the Ethiopian Awash Valley Authority. Holmes spent a period of six months in Ethiopia in 1970 and a further six months in 1971. He was employed as a Hydrologist, Surveyor consultant to review the Hydrologic network in the Awash Valley and to prepare specifications for a contour survey of 120,000 hectares in the Lower Valley together with river surveys and sedimentation survey of the Koka dam reservoir. These surveys where undertaken as training exercise for Ethiopian surveyors under the supervision of State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission Head Office

Holmes returned to his position as Assistant Chief Surveyor late in 1971. 1972 he attended the Australian Administrative Staff College at Mount Eliza for three months and in 1973 was appointed as Chief Surveyor.

Surveyor General of Victoria

In 1979 following the death of John Eric Mitchell, Holmes was appointed to the position of Surveyor General of Victoria, (the position was later re-designated Surveyor General and Director of Mapping).

Over the following 9 years of his appointment has Surveyor General of Victoria he substantially achieved the mapping of Victoria consisting of 1300 maps sheets and took a leading role in the development of Victorias land information system (LANDATA)[https://www.landata.vic.gov.au/].

As Surveyor General he was Chairman of the Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria, The Place Names Committee ([https://www.propertyandlandtitles.vic.gov.au/naming-places-features-and-roads/office-of-geographic-names Geographic Names Victoria]) and a State Electoral Commission^[5].

Introduction of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in Victoria

In 1987 Holmes arrange the purchased three GPS receivers, two by the Surveyor General’s office and a third owned by RMIT and the University of Melbourne. At the time these GPS units cost around $120,000 each. They shared the units between the three agencies and in order to introduce this technology made them available for training of Victorian surveyors.

Honorary Doctor of Surveying

Following retirement Holmes was invited to lecture to the surveying students at the University of Melbourne on cadastral surveying. During this time Holmes was also able to catalog the antique survey instruments which had been collected in the Surveying Department^[8]. In 1994 the University created a new degree of Doctor of Surveying and Raymond Holmes was awarded the first Honorary Doctor of Surveying.^[9]

The Institution of Surveyors and FIG

In 1946 Holmes had joined the Institution of Surveyors Victoria as a student. Consequently he became a foundation member of the Institution of Surveyors Australia when it was formed. He joined the committee of the Victoria Division in 1967 and held various offices until he became President of Victoria Division in 1975. He became a Councillor of the Institution of Surveyors Australia in 1975 and was President in 1985-1986.

In 1986 the Institution of Surveyors Australia decided to bid to run the bureau of the Federation Internationale des Geometres' (FIG) for the period 1992 to 1996. Holmes led successful delegation to bid for a proposal at the Toronto Congress in 1986^[4].

From 1992 to 1996 the FIG bureau was run in Australia and included an international congress in 1994 that was a major event with 2000 delegates and 380 technical papers pre printed in 9 books.

In 1996 Australia handed responsibility for the Bureau to the incoming British Bureau. This was the first time FIG had been managed in the southern hemisphere.

Retirement

Holmes retired from the State Public service at the age of 60 at the end of February 1988. Following his retirement as Surveyor General, Holmes worked as a consultant to both the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as an expert adviser on land administration^[10]

The Discovery of Burke and Wills Plant Camp 46R

In 1860 the Royal Society of Victoria, with the support of the government arranged an expedition to cross Australia from south to north for the first time. The story is well documented and not to be retold here, You can read more about the Burke and Wills Expedition.

During their return from the Gulf, when in extreme from the climate, exertion and lack of food, the party were forced to bury all that they could not carry, at a site 80 to 100 km north easterly from Birdsville. This

equipment included Wills survey and astronomical equipment. The site where the equipment was buried became known as ‘Plant Camp’.

In 2007 a trip together with Emma MacNamara, Patrick MacNamara and Stephen Hiho found a previously undiscovered blazed tree. The story is told in detail in the paper titled "The Search For and Discovery of Burke and Wills Plant Camp 46R".

Donation of artefacts to the State Library of Victoria

All of the artefacts which Raymond Holmes, Emma MacNamara, Patrick MacNamara and Stephen Hiho found, together with Holmes diary have [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-19/burke-and-wills-spirit-level-donated-to-state/402042 subsequently been donated to the State Library of Victoria].

Published works

• Expanded Stream Gauging Network for Victoria, S.R.& W.S.C.1964
• Water Resources Measurement in Victoria, N.Z.I.S. 1967
• Surveying for Water Resources Development, S.R.&.W.S.C. 1974
• Atlas of Victoria, 1982, Water Resources chapter
• Accelerated Mapping Program for Victoria, Department of Crown Land and Survey
• Towards a Single State Cadastral Boundaries Authority, 1985
• Mapping Victoria, Sixth Australian Cartographic Conference, 1986
• Organisational Structures of an LIS, NZIS 1988
• Proposal for the construction of an iron clad rainfall catchment in arid areas, 1996
• The search for and Discovery of Burke & Wills Plant Camp R46
• Red Hill Ancestors - McKeown, Sheehan, Ewers, Holmes, Tallents, Wright, Burton, Holmes-Smith, McAuley & The 2007 Discovery of Burke & Wills Plant Camp 2016 ISBN: 9781389919404

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

• Articled Pupil Surveyor 1945 – 1949
• Licensed as a Surveyor 1949 - Surveyors’ Board of Victoria.
• Member, Institution of Surveyors, Victoria 1949.
• University of New South Wales 1963, Post-Graduate course in Engineering Hydrology.
• Australian Water Resources Council, Technical Committee on Surface Water –Member 1966 - 1979
• Australian Water Resources Council, Technical Committee on Surface Water –Chairman, 1972 - 1977
• Australian Administrative Staff College 1972 - Advanced Management Course.
• Councillor, Institution of Surveyors, Australia 1972 - 1991
• President, Victoria Division, Institution of Surveyors, Australia 1975
• Place Names Committee of Victoria, Chairman, 1979 - 1988
• National Mapping Council of Australia, Member, 1979 - 1988
• Surveyors’ Board of Victoria, Chairman, 1979 - 1988
• LANDATA Executive Committee Deputy Chairman and Chairman 1980 - 1987
• University of Melbourne, Faculty of Engineering, Member 1980 - 1988
• Department of Conservation, Forest and Lands, Corporate Management Team 1983-85
• President, Institution of Surveyors, Australia 1985
• University of Melbourne, Department of Surveying and Land Information Advisory Committee, Chairman 1987
• Honorary Fellow, Institution of Surveyors, Australia 1988
• Executive Bureau of International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Member 1992 - 1995
• Doctor of Surveying honoris causa 1994. The University of Melbourne
• Electoral Commission of Victoria, Member

References