William Alcock Tully (14 March 1830 – 26 April 1905) was a

Surveyor General of Queensland Surveyor General of Queensland is a position originally created for the colony of Queensland, now a state of Australia. The position was the most senior surveyor within the Queensland Public Service. List of Surveyors General of Queensland S ...

, (then a colony, now a state of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Early life

Tully 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 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of William Tully, a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, and his wife Mary, ''née'' Alcock. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

, 1852). Tully arrived in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

aboard the ''Lord Dalhousie'' on 14 August 1852.

Career

On 1 May 1853 Tully became a road surveyor, and a third-class surveyor on 1 May 1854 until his resignation in July 1856. Then he was a contract surveyor until 31 December 1858 when he was appointed inspecting surveyor. Tully acted for a while as a gold commissioner and in 1859. He was a foundation member of the

Tasmanian Club ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

; in 1860 he married Louisa (died 26 February 1866), granddaughter of

Simeon Lord Simeon Lord ( – 29 January 1840) was a pioneer merchant and a magistrate in Australia. He became a prominent trader in Sydney, buying and selling ship cargoes. Despite being an emancipist Lord was made a magistrate by Governor Lachlan Mac ...

, at Hobart. In October 1863 (with a glowing reference from James Erskine Calder,

Surveyor General of Tasmania Surveyor General of Tasmania is a position originally created for the colony of Van Diemens Land (Tasmania from 1855 now a state of Australia). List of Surveyors General of Tasmania See also * Surveyor General of New South Wales * Surveyor Gene ...

) Tully arrived in

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_ ...

as a commissioner of

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

s in the Kennedy and Warrego pastoral districts. On 16 August 1866 Tully became under-secretary for public lands and chief commissioner of crown lands. Soon afterward he clashed with Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, the

. On 12 March 1875 Tully became acting Surveyor General replacing Gregory. In 1880 on Tully's advice, the offices of Surveyor General and under-secretary for lands were divided; on 9 July Tully was made Surveyor General and Edward Deshon became under-secretary for lands. Tully had assisted to draft the Lands Alienation Act (1868) and the Consolidating Crown Lands Alienation Act (1876); as Surveyor General he supervised an expansion of activities, endeavoured to improve standards and enhanced reproduction of Survey Office maps. Tully was appointed to the Land Board on 4 December 1889 and retired on 31 December 1900.

Late life and legacy

Tully had a significant influence on the land laws, procedures and practices of Queensland. The town of Tully in

and the

Tully River The Tully River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia. Course and features The Tully River rises in the Cardwell Range, part of the Great Dividing Range on the northern boundary of the Kirrama State Forest. The river flows g ...

in northern Queensland were named after him.

References

External links

Death notice
''Sydney Morning Herald'', 27 April 1905 at Trove, National Library of Australia

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tully, William Alcock 1830 births 1905 deaths Surveyors General of Queensland Australian surveyors People from Dublin (city)