Robert Hoddle

Robert Hoddle (1794–1881) became a surveyor when serving in the Army Ordnance Department from 1812. After a brief time in the Cape Colony (now South Africa), he arrived in New South Wales in 1823. He was appointed assistant surveyor under John Oxley and accompanied him to Moreton Bay, where he worked on the survey and establishment of the site of Brisbane. Over the following years Hoddle surveyed areas of New South Wales, including the site of Goulburn.

The appointment of Governor Richard Bourke (1777–1855) coincided with concern about the work of surveyor Robert Russell (1808–1900) on the new settlement taking shape in the Port Phillip District. In March 1837, Hoddle travelled with Bourke to the new settlement and effectively took over from Russell.

On 4 March 1837, Hoddle and Bourke traced the general outline of the township. Three days later, Bourke directed that the town be laid out, and on 9 March the governor named the settlement Melbourne, after Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), the British Prime Minister of the day. By the end of April, Hoddle's plan of Melbourne was lodged at the government Survey Office in Sydney.

Debate still surrounds the question of who really made the plan for Melbourne's 'grid', with some thinking that Hoddle drew his grid over a detailed topographic map of the region prepared by Russell.

The Library holds many drawings by Robert Hoddle, as well as personal and official items, including the surveyor's chain he used to lay out Melbourne's streets. This portrait was painted by Hoddle's granddaughter, probably from a print or photograph of Hoddle in old age.