The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Goyder, George Woodroffe
Goyder, George Woodroffe, C.M.G., Surveyor-General, South Australia, son of the Rev. David George Goyder, of the New Jerusalem Church of London and Ipswich, was born in 1824, and emigrated to Australia in 1848. Three years later, having gone to South Australia, he entered the office of the Colonial Engineer, Colonel (afterwards Sir A. H.) Freeling, and became Chief Clerk in the Lands and Survey Department in 1853, Deputy Surveyor-General in 1858, and Surveyor-General, in succession to Colonel Freeling, in 1861. He has undertaken several exploring expeditions, and in 1869 to 1870 fixed the site of the capital of the Northern Territory at Palmerston, and laid out in sections 500,000 acres in its vicinity. For the despatch and skill with which he accomplished this difficult work he was complimented by Parliament. Mr. Goyder was created C.M.G. in 1889.