Alexander Black (25 May 1827 – 13 March 1897) was a Scottish-born surveyor who worked for most of career in Victoria, Australia and was Surveyor General of Victoria for six years from 1886. Black was born at Arndilly,

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Moray ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. After training as a land surveyor in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and working locally, he migrated to Victoria in 1852. He worked in the

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

goldfields then returned to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and joined the Victorian government survey office. His work included the survey of the Black-Allan Line—the eastern "straight-edge" portion of the border between the Australian states of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and Victoria. Black was appointed Surveyor General of Victoria on 1 July 1886 and held the position until his retirement in May 1892. He was elected a member of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors in 1877 and was president 1879 to 1880. He died in

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 6 km (4 miles) south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local governmen ...

on 13 March 1897.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Alexander 1827 births 1897 deaths Australian surveyors Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia People from Banffshire Surveyors General of Victoria