Surveyor James Charles BurnettPrint Page

The plaque commemorates Government Surveyor James Charles Burnett.

In 1847 Burnett was sent to complete the work of Henry Stuart Russell, a squatter whose dissatisfaction with pastures on the Darling Downs had led in 1842 to his discovery of the headwaters of a large river system beyond the Upper Brisbane River. By 1846 thirteen squatters had taken up runs on this new system, and it was important to know where the river entered the sea and whether wool could be shipped from its mouth. In his first expedition in 1847 Burnett traced the largest of the rivers down to its tidal reaches, but since he could not penetrate the dense coastal scrubs he returned to Brisbane for a boat and explored the river from its mouth to the point where he had abandoned his overland expedition.

Believing that the mouth of the river system was unsuitable for a port, he surveyed the mouth of a smaller river which entered Wide Bay. Burnett submitted reports which gave birth to Maryborough in 1847. In recognition of his work, Governor Sir Charles FitzRoy decreed that the large river be called the Burnett, whilst the Wide Bay river was named the Mary after Lady FitzRoy.
 

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