Collection RS23 - Hurst Papers

William Nevin Tatlow Hurst (11 April 1868 – 24 December 1946) attended the Hobart Town High School and Christ's College Hobart (before it became a university college) but did not pursue a university education. As a school-leaver aged 17, he chose to start work in the government Department of Lands and Surveys, as a junior draftsman. His qualifications did not include the certification needed to become a licensed surveyor and he was never registered as such. Instead, his career advanced via senior technical and clerical roles and then management roles within the department. At his retirement in 1938 he had been continuously employed in the department for fifty three years, having joined as a trainee draftsman on 1 July 1885. He lived all of his life in New Town, Hobart.
One of Hurst's intellectual passions was nomenclature, the naming of Tasmania's places (towns, streets etc.) and physical features (lakes, mountains, rivers etc.). The Tasmanian Nomenclature Board was not established until 1953;[39] before that there were no procedures, and no official collection of records.
He presented a scholarly paper on the subject in 1898, to a meeting of the Institute of Surveyors, Tasmania
For more information see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Nevin_Tatlow_Hurst