(Surveyor) Thomas Florance

Thomas Florance (1783 – 1867)

Thomas Florance arrived in Sydney in November 1817 and sought a position as a government surveyor. From May 1818 to 1825 he worked in Tasmania. He then moved to Sydney and in October 1825 was appointed an assistant surveyor on a salary of £200 plus allowances. From 1826 he started making surveys of the South Coast.

In 1827 he travelled overland from Jervis Bay to Moruya. He noted the native name of St Georges Basin, ‘Bherwerre’; called Ulladulla Harbour either ‘Wollabderrah’ or ‘Wasp Harbour’ (after his survey boat); and noted that the Aboriginal name for the mountain Captain Cook named ‘Pigeon House Mountain’ was ‘Didthul’. He also adopted the Aboriginal names for various other locations along the coast including Burrill (as in Burrill Lake), Tabourie (as in Lake Tabourie), Narrawallee, Broulee, Tomakin, Candlagan (as in Candlagan Creek) and Moruya.

On 14 May 1829 he married Elizabeth, second daughter of Thomas Kendall, the early landowner near Milton.

Soon afterwards he resigned and opened a private survey office in Sydney. This was not a success, so in 1830 he moved to the South Coast and continued surveying in the area until May 1834 when he relocated to New Zealand.

In New Zealand he applied for a post in the Survey Department, but an unfavourable report from Governor Sir George Gipps led to its rejection. He was to live in poverty for some years and suffered from constant ill health. He died in Auckland on 28th March 1867, aged 84.