History

Prior to 1814 there was only a transitory European population in New Zealand. This comprised whalers, sealers, a few traders and individuals concerned with ship repairs and timber and flax trading. In 1814 a party was sent by Rev Samuel Marsden, from New South Wales, with instructions to explore and report the possibility of establishing a mission. So began the settlement of New Zealand.

By the 1830s settlements extended from Hokianga to the Coromandel. Thomas Florance was probably the first 'professional' surveyor to settle in New Zealand and he settled with his wife in the Bay of Islands in 1834. He later moved to Auckland and assisted with some of the surveys of Auckland and its suburbs.

It was not until after the first settlers, sponsored by various colonising organisations, came to New Zealand and a land market was established, that any substantial demand for survey services developed. In 1840 the arrival of the first settlers in Wellington, without access to their land and the means to adequately support themselves, pointed to the need for settlements to be better prepared in the future.

It was to be another 41 years before any New Zealand-wide association of surveyors was to emerge. By this time a demand had developed amongst surveyors throughout the country for some sort of organisation which would represent their views on matters of importance both to themselves and to the country as a whole. The result was that E H Burr of Wellington, who had canvassed surveyors on a national basis, convened a meeting to be held in the Chamber of Commerce on Friday, April 8th 1881. This formation collapsed shortly after because it was unable to deliver on the high hopes many had held for it.

There were however those who felt they needed to proceed with their own representative organisation and the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors was founded on the 4th of September 1888 at a meeting held in Wellington.

To quote from the then "Rules and By-laws" booklet:

“Its object shall be to secure uniformity of practice amongst Surveyors; to define the nature and extent of the education expected from candidates seeking to enter the profession. To provide a competent and sufficient authority to pronounce the opinions of the whole profession.”

The Constitution of the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors is set out in its Rules.