Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

02/01/1918

Date of Discharge

16/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Perth, Western Australia

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

26/05/1874

Place of Birth

Malmsbury, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Perth, Western Australia (previously Acton ACT

Occupation

Surveyor, civil engineer

Next of Kin

Christine Vance (wife), Malmsbury, Victoria

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

Australian Survey Corps AIF

Vance was a surveyor who worked on the trigonometrical survey of the Territory from 1913. In February 1915 he discovered that part of the Cotter River catchment was actually outside the Federal Territory. In April 1915 he was transferred to Port Augusta to work on the transcontinental railway linking Western Australia with the rest of the country. He enlisted on 2 January 1918 as an officer in the Australian Survey Corps, which he eventually commanded with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and served in England until his appointment was terminated on 16 July 1919. He died on 19 February 1959 in Yackandandah, Victoria. The NLA image shows Vance with Charles Scrivener (seated at his right) and Ernest Dowling (standing at rear of his left shoulder) in 1914 during survey work near Port Augusta for the Transcontinental Railway.

Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 149 pounds, chest 37¾ inches, fair complexion, brown eyes, black hair, Church of England.

Peter Procter, 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan', Canberra, Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001
F. M. Johnston, 'Knights and Theodolites: A Saga of Surveyors', 1962
John D. Lines, 'Australia on Paper: The story of Australian Mapping', 1992
Samuel Shumack, 'An autobiography or Tales and Legends of Canberra pioneers' (p.84), 1967
Queanbeyan Age - 2 October 1914, 1 June 1915
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
NLA digital collection : http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3534314-v