John Turnbull Thomson

Thomson was born at Glororum in Northumberland. He studied engineering under eminent masters and trained in the same office as Sir William Armstrong. After qualifying he went to the Straits Settlement in 1838 where he spent eighteen years in due course becoming Chief Surveyor and Civil Engineer. One of his tasks was the extensive survey of the Singapore Straits in which he cooperated with Commander Samuel Congalton,R.N. Another task was the designing and erection of the Horsburgh Lighthouse (similar in design tothe Eddystone) on the Pedra Blanca (White Rock) some twenty miles east of Singapore. This light is still functioning.

Through his health declining, he decided to visit New Zealand in 1856 andwas appointed Chief Surveyor of Otago, under the Provincial Government on 9th May, 1856. His first survey was of the New River Estuary; this was followed by the survey of the town of Invercargill. During his first year of service he made extensive exploratory and reconnaissance surveys, as far afield as Te Anau, Wanaka and Hawea, including the exploration of the Waiau, Oreti, Aparima and Mataura Rivers and the discovery of the Lindis Pass.

In a dispute between the Otago and Canterbury Provinces over the boundary, he disagreed with Colonel T.R. Mould who had been appointed by the Governor to settle the dispute, and ultimately Thomson’s objection was upheld. (This boundary was subsequently surveyed by two Canterbury surveyors, Jollie and Young). He prepared a complete scheme for the development of Otago Harbour, estimated to cost £250,000 and to be carried out gradually over a period of thirty years.

During his term as Chief Surveyor he also served on several occasions as Provincial Engineer, and carried out a number of works, including bridging. He designed and constructed the first bridge over the Clutha at Cromwell, and also bridged the Roaring Meg and the Gentle Annie, all on the Queenstown Road.

In 1864 he was chairmen of a sanitary commission set up to decide what should be done to remedy the unsanitary condition into which Dunedin, with no drainage system, had fallen during the sudden increase of population to over 20,000 from 2,000 in 1859 i.e. before the rush to the Otago goldfields. (Charles Kettle, who was then Provincial Treasurer, was a victim of a typhoid epidemic).

In 1869 Thomson also became Commissioner of Crown Lands, and in 1873 he became Chief Commissioner of Surveys and Works, which he held until the dissolution of the Provinces in 1876. He then became Surveyor General for New Zealand and established the Department of Lands and Survey. He retired in 1879 and went to live at Invercargill. He became a member of the Borough Council, and Mayor of Gladstone. He died at Invercargill on 15th October, 1884.