Harold Camm

Harold Camm (7 September 1903 – 6 April 1990) was an Australian geographer who served as the Surveyor General of Western Australia from 1959 to 1968.

Biography

He was born in Geraldton, Western Australia on 7 September 1903.

He died on 6 April 1990 in Perth, Western Australia.

His period of leadership encompassed a peak land settlement era where 1,000,000 acres of virgin bush was annually classified and subdivided into farms for conditional purchase release. Substantial areas of land were set aside in conservation reserves and a policy of road reserves wide was implemented under his direction. The importance of these interconnecting ribbons of land to the conservation of flora and fauna has only been recognized in recent years.

New technologies were also introduced into the department and the survey industry over this period, equipment such as electronic distance measuring instruments, computers and photogrammetric equipment. As a result, greater efficiencies in surveying and mapping were attained, including the accelerated geodesic surveying and mapping programs across Australia, to which Western Australia was a major contributor.

His tenure ended in 1968 and he was succeeded by John Frank Morgan.

He also served with the Australian Army in the Royal Australian Survey Corps during World War Two from 1942 until 1945, and attained the rank of captain.