What you’ll see
Planning the Capital – surveyor's stories
One Tree Hill has special significance for the surveyors, past and present, who helped to shape our National Capital. It played a vital role in the first surveys of the Canberra area; by Robert Dixon in 1829 and Robert Hoddle in 1832. Dixon and Hoddle were sent from Sydney to survey the first land grants in the Canberra region. They used One Tree Hill as a high point from which to review the area and a landmark from which they could get their bearings.
Many decades later, One Tree Hill was visited by Charles Scrivener at the start of an even more important survey. Scrivener was chosen by the Commonwealth Government in late 1908 to make 'a thorough topographical investigation of the Yass–Canberra district' in order to establish the best site for the Nation's Capital. As Minister for Home Affairs, Hugh Mahon instructed Scrivener to 'bear in mind that the Federal Capital should be a beautiful city ... embracing distinctive features which will lend themselves to the evolution of a design worthy of the object, not only for the present, but for all time ...'
The view of the Molonglo Valley from this point influenced Scrivener's recommendations on the boundaries of the Capital Territory and the site for the future city of Canberra.
Percy Sheaffe, one of the surveyors appointed by Scrivener to survey the ACT border, started from Mount Coree in May 1910 and took several months to mark the straight line between there and here. Sheaffe later wrote of the ACT border survey: 'In places the country encountered was so rough that the party carrying out the survey had to crawl on all fours, measure over precipices, and descend in one mile about 1,500 feet.'
As well as being a 'corner' in the ACT border, One Tree Hill became part of a network of hilltop trigonometric (trig) stations. During the late 19th and much of the 20th century, surveyors used theodolites and the triangulation method to survey these trig stations, which can still be found across most of Australia.
Natural values
Look out for pictures of the trail's flora and fauna on each of the trail head signs. Learn about Canberra's plants and animals and bring a pencil and your own copy of the Whose Backyard activity sheet (1.9 MB) to collect a special pencil rubbing for each trail section.
In this section, you may see:
Add a sighting to the NatureMapr or visit the Canberra Birds website.
