Francis Peter MacCabe (1817 – 27 June 1897) was a surveyor in the colony 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 ...

(later a state of Australia) in the 19th century. He surveyed and mapped the lower reaches of the Murrumbidgee, Darling and

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

Rivers in New South Wales.

Early life

MacCabe was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1817. His parents were Dr James and Margaret (née Russell) MacCabe. He trained as a surveyor with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and migrated to

in 1841 at the age of 24 on the ship ''Florentia''.

Surveying career

MacCabe worked with a team of assistants and convict labour surveying the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin between 1848 and 1852, including laying out the town of

Balranald Balranald is a town within the local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the Sturt Highway crosses the Murrumbidgee River in a remote, semi-desert ...

in 1849. MacCabe's surveys of these rivers made use of communication with the local

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

, and recorded up to 6-8 native placenames per mile of river. MacCabe was working in the

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

area in early 1853 when he met Jane Osborne. They married at St Luke's church at Brownsville on 28 November 1855. They had 14 children. MacCabe left the Department of Surveyors in 1856 to manage a mine near the "Russell Vale" house that the couple had built when they married. In later life, the MacCabe family retired to

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, about ninety minutes southwest of Sydney. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and Highlands. Bowral once served ...

, where he died on 27 June 1897. MacCabe also explored and surveyed the

Port Curtis Port Curtis is a suburb of Rockhampton in the Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Port Curtis had a population of 281 people. Geography The Fitzroy River bounds the suburb to the north-east. Gavial Creek, a tributary of th ...

district around what is now

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, at the request of Sir Thomas Mitchell. This survey took a total of 27 months from June 1853.

Later life

MacCabe died at his residence, "Eltham," Merrigang Street,

, New South Wales on Sunday morning 27 June 1897, following an illness of three years' duration. For the last nine months of his life, he resided in Bowral. He was buried in

Corrimal Corrimal is a northern suburb of the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Corrimal's CBD is situated on the Princes Highway, and several streets adjacent to it. The main shopping centres are Lederer Corrimal and Corrimal Park Mall ne ...

Cemetery at

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

on Monday 28 June 1897.

Legacy

MacCabe Corner is the point at which the borders of the states of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales meet, and was named after Francis MacCabe. On Sunday 22 June 2003 a memorial cairn to Francis MacCabe was unveiled in Friend Park in Gladstone by the Mayor of Gladstone Peter Corones. As part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia. Q15 ...

celebrations in Queensland in 2009, the

Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute The Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) is the professional association for surveyors and spatial science workers, including cartography, hydrography, remote sensing, engineering and mining surveying, photogrammetry and spatial i ...

placed a Q150 survey marker at the

Calliope River Historical Village The Calliope River Historical Village is an open-air museum at 50951 Bruce Highway (on the side road known as Old Bruce Highway) beside the Calliope River in River Ranch in the Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. It is operated by the Port ...

() to commemorate MacCabe and his surveys of Gladstone and surrounding areas. The

suburb of

Russell Vale Russell Vale is a small suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Geography Russell Vale straddles the Princes Highway. History Russell Vale was the home and estate of surveyor Francis Peter MacCabe, who ...

arose from the subdivision of his Russell Vale estate; the house itself was demolished in 1966.

Early life

Surveying career

Later life

Legacy

References

Further reading