Join us for the third talk in the Heritage Skills Association Winter Warmer Talk Series. 

This series showcases local heritage professionals, shines a spotlight on Western Australian heritage, and provides a meeting opportunity for all those interested in heritage work.

Join Bill France as he shares the results of his attempts to locate the wells and infrastructure created by Charles Cooke Hunt during his 1864 expedition to map a route from York to the Hampton Plains for travellers and livestock.

Discover how C.C. Hunt mapped his route using the methods available to him and how modern surveying techniques compare. Learn how identifying errors in historic surveys and incorporating evidence from later surveyors in 1871 and 1889 reveal lost archaeological sites.
 

Date: Wednesday, 27 August 2025. 
Time: 5.45pm arrival. Talk starts 6pm. Event Concludes 7.30pm. Light refreshments will be available.
Venue: City of Perth Library 573 Hay Street, Perth
Cost: Free, book now as places are limited.
 

About the speaker

Bill France is a certified practicing Licenced Land Surveyor and a director at Brook and Marsh Pty Ltd. Bill worked for Brook and Marsh for 19 years before he and his wife Lee purchased the company in 2003.

Bill began working in the surveying industry in1977, starting his career in heavy Industry at the Alcoa refinery in Pinjarra, before completing his Licensed Cadetship in Cadastral (land) Surveying in 1984. Bill is currently a board member of the Western Australian Institute of Surveyors (WAIS) and WAIS Education committee Chair. He has extensive experience in many varied surveying projects both large and small across the state of Western Australia for a variety of clients. Bill is passionate and enthusiastic in his endeavours, carrying a desire to actively help other Surveyors and WAIS come together in their mutual professional pathways and help educate the public in what Surveyors do.

Bill is a member of the Historic Skills Association and is currently studying Historic expeditions of 1865, comparing modern and past survey techniques.

HERITAGE SKILLS ASSOCIATION WINTER WARMER TALK SERIES

This series will showcase a range of local heritage professionals shining the spotlight on WA heritage places, projects, current challenges as well as provide a chance to meet other individuals interested in or working in these spaces.

Anyone with an interest in learning more about heritage and our environment is invited to attend as well as those studying, working or looking to enter the industry.

This event series is run in partnership with the Heritage Skills Association endorsed by Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, and the Heritage Council.

More talks in this series: 
Wednesday 25 June 2025 - Conservators at Large: Preserving cultural material in unexpected contexts
Wednesday 30 July 2025 - Preserving Rottnest's Military History 
Wednesday 24 Septemeber 2025 - Their Words, Their Stories - Western Australian Military Digital Library