The roles of the engineers and architects during settlement were similar to the roles played in the settled communities of Europe and other developed parts of the world. In particular, they were called upon to provide shelter for the community; to plan the towns and cities and provide suitable premises for administration and commerce; to establish water supply systems which were adequate and safe; roads, tracks and bridges for communication; to establish the means of producing food; to develop the ports; to establish navigation aids; to develop forts for defence; and to establish sources of energy and facilities for the manufacturing processes on which the community would depend. These roles could be encapsulated in the following words -moulding the materials and harnessing the forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.

Australia's first engineer and surveyor was Captain Theodore Henry Alt of the Royal Engineers, whose first important task was to lay out the town of Sydney, on which task he worked closely with Governor Phillip, who also had some previous engineering and surveying experience. What was one of the best sites in the world for a model city called out for intelligent planning and had the original liberal policy of 61 metres wide for main streets been maintained, with a pattern of rectangular blocks, the city would not have suffered the inconvenience and disfigurement caused by such numerous irregular blocks and narrow streets as exist today.

Alt was followed as Surveyor-General by Charles Grimes, who, in addition to his work in Sydney, led an expedition to Victoria in 1803, during which he traversed what was then known as the Salt Water Creek, now the Maribyrnong River, which flows into the Yarra not far from the Westgate Bridge. On his return, Grimes reported to Governor King that the area around the mouth of the Yarra would not be suitable as a site for settlement.

John Batman had a different opinion from Grimes and soon after he and Fawkner had each made their controversial contributions to the settlements of Melbourne in 1835, Hoddle was sent down to lay out the town. He was originally the Surveyor on Sydney's first water supply tunnel, Busby's Bore. Learning from the mistakes of Sydney, he gave Melbourne's citizens a regular rectangular pattern of wide major streets and narrow secondary streets. The benefits for construction, administration, installation of services and traffic flow were enormous. Not only were city streets well planned, but also incorporated in the plan were the impressive boulevards such as St. Kilda Road and Royal Parade, and a generous allocation of land for the many public parks which are a feature of Melbourne today.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering