Sign-In
Cart
Lines of a Convict Surveyor: James Meehan and the Making of Colonial New South Wales
Paperback
Series: Shadows on the Map, Book 2
Historical FiguresAustralia & Oceania
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Nov 24 2025
Pages: 112
Weight: 0.35
Height: 0.23 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
James Meehan stepped off the convict ship Friendship in 1800 under an alias, a transported Irish United Irishman sentenced to life for his part in the turbulence of 1798. Within months, the colonial government had moved him out of the gangs and into the Survey Department. For the next two decades he walked, measured and drew his way across New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, turning imperial orders into the grids and town plans that still shape Australia today.
Lines of a Convict Surveyor follows Meehan from the fields of Offaly to the banks of the Hawkesbury, from the early streets of Sydney to the new inland town of Goulburn, and from a convict's bunk to the deputy surveyor-general's desk. Along the way, it shows how a man who began as a political prisoner became indispensable to governors, a key figure in Catholic Sydney's push for St Mary's Chapel, and one of the quiet architects of the colonial land system.
This is not a story of grand speeches or heroic exploration. Meehan's power lay in the small, technical decisions that made the colonial machine work: where a boundary line would kink, which ridge would carry a road, which rise would be reserved for a church, and which farmer would be told to move his fence. His careful surveys brought security to emancipists and free settlers - and at the same time helped lock in a regime that treated Aboriginal law and tenure as if they did not exist.
Lines of a Convict Surveyor is Book Two in the Shadows on the Map series, a set of historical studies about the mostly forgotten surveyors and administrators whose lines and paperwork still define the landscapes Australians live in. It is a clear-eyed, unsentimental look at mid-level power in a penal colony: how a transported Irish Catholic turned exile into security, and how his neat maps outlived him.
Also from
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
SS Morro Castle: The Fire That Turned a Luxury Liner into a Death Trap
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Greatest Medal of Honor Stories: Extraordinary Acts of Courage from America's Highest Military Award
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
George Villiers: Court Favourite, War Minister, and the Making of a Constitutional Crisis
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
USS Indianapolis: The Sinking, the Sharks, and the Scandal That Haunted the U.S. Navy
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
António de Oliveira Salazar: The Quiet Dictatorship That Held Portugal Still
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Convict Nation: Crime, Punishment, Survival, and the Making of Australian Character
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Medal of Honor Stories from Vietnam: Courage, Sacrifice, and Survival in America's Most Controversial War
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Mary Rose: England's Tudor Warship Lost in the Battle of the Solent (1545)
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Why People Follow Dictators: The Psychology of Obedience, Fear, Propaganda and Power
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Prisoner's Dilemma: Why Cooperation Fails (Even When It Should Work)
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Prime Minister's Burden: Winston Churchill and the Hard Road from Dunkirk to Defeat at the Polls
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Stalin's Great Purge: Terror, Betrayal, and the Destruction of a Revolution
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Purge of the Templars: Faith, Power, and the Destruction of an Order
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Medal of Honor Stories from World War II: Courage, Sacrifice, and Heroism from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Black Death: Plague, Social Upheaval and the Transformation of England
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Henrietta Maria: The Queen Who Defied Parliament and Fought for the Crown
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Red Terror: Lenin's War on His Enemies and the Birth of Soviet Repression
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Herald of Free Enterprise: The Ferry That Sailed With Its Bow Door Open
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Louis XV: The Failure of Bourbon Power: The King Who Inherited Glory and Left a Crisis
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Nero: Rome's Last Julio-Claudian and the Emperor Who Burned His Own Legacy
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Fun Facts About Football: Strange, Surprising and Unbelievable Stories from the World's Game
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Olympic Records: The Greatest Feats, Fastest Times, and Unbreakable Achievements in Olympic History
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Massacre of the Janissaries: The Sultan's Bloody Solution to Power and Betrayal
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The St Bartholomew's Day Massacre: A Night of Slaughter That Shook a Kingdom
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Reign of Terror: Robespierre and the French Revolution Turned Inward
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Bushrangers: Outlaws, Police and the Making of the Australian Legend
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Medal of Honor Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan: Courage, Sacrifice, and Survival in Modern America's Longest Wars
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
100 Medal of Honor Stories from World War I: Courage, Sacrifice, and Survival in the War to End All Wars
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
25 Decisions That Won Formula 1 World Championships: The Moments That Decided F1 Titles
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Margaret Pole: The Last Plantagenet Princess: Royal Blood, Rebellion and Revenge under Henry VIII
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
The Kingmaker: Warwick, Edward IV and the Crown That Changed Hands Twice
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
John Hindmarsh: Powder Monkey, Governor, Forgotten Man of South Australia
MacKenzie, Gordon J.
Paperback
Also in
Historical Figures
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich
Metaxas, Eric
Paperback
The Rise of Thomas Cromwell: Power and Politics in the Reign of Henry VIII, 1485-1534
Everett, Michael
Paperback
The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution
Wegman, Jesse
Hardcover
The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel: Romanovs, Revolutionaries, and the Forgotten Titan Who Fueled the World
Brunt, Douglas
Hardcover
America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick
Crawford, Bob
Hardcover
Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours
Onuf, Peter S.
Cogliano, Francis D.
Hardcover
Rebel of the Regency: The Scandalous Saga of Caroline of Brunswick, Britain's Queen Without a Crown
Foster, Ann
Hardcover
Biography of a Dangerous Idea: A New History of Race from Louis XIV to Thomas Jefferson
Curran, Andrew S.
Hardcover
The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
Boom, Corrie Ten
Sherrill, John
Paperback
A Thousand Shall Fall: The Electrifying Story of a Soldier and His Family Who Dared to Practice Their Faith in Hitler's Germany
Mundy, Susi Hasel
Paperback
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
Strauss, Gwen
Paperback
Operation Sparrow: The Incredible True Story of the Spies Who Tricked Hitler and Won the War
Bell, Jason
Hardcover
The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I
Brunt, Douglas
Paperback
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paperback
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Bourdain, Anthony
Paperback
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
Winchester, Simon
Paperback
A Librarian's War: The Man Who Fought World War II with Books and Brought the Joy of Reading to Millions
Manning, Molly Guptill
Hardcover
The Confessions of Samuel Pepys: Private Revelations from Britain's Most Famed Diarist
de la Bédoyère, Guy
Hardcover
The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America
Rosen, Jeffrey
Paperback
Solo and Together: Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, an Enigmatic Life and Marriage
Hansen, James R.
Hardcover
Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection
Faber, Toby
Paperback
American Prometheus (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture Oppenheimer
Bird, Kai
Sherwin, Martin J.
Paperback
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High
Beals, Melba Pattillo
Paperback
The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès
Luzzatto, Sergio
Hardcover
The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Paperback
The Man Behind the Cane: Preston Brooks, Political Violence, and the Road to the Civil War
Quigley, Paul
Hardcover
The Power Broker (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro, Robert A.
Hardcover
The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War
Donohue, John Chick
Molloy, J. T.
Paperback
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
Goodwin, Doris Kearns
Paperback
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
Kiernan, Denise
Paperback
The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man
Von Drehle, David
Paperback
Miracles in American History, Volume Two: Amazing Faith That Shaped the Nation: Adapted from William J. Federer's American Minute [With 2 Paperbacks]
Federer, William J.
Federer, Susie
Paperback
Tomboy Bride, 50th Anniversary Edition: One Woman's Personal Account of Life in Mining Camps of the West
Backus, Harriet Fish
Paperback
The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Harrington, Joel F.
Paperback
The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President
Collinsworth, Eden
Hardcover
Master of the Senate (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
Caro, Robert A.
Paperback
The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee
Kashner, Sam
Schoenberger, Nancy
Paperback