Harris continues Governor Gawler's edict from the Government Gazette of 31 October 1839, in which Gawler asks that the colonists discover where possible the Aboriginal names for places and to forward that information to the Surveyor-General's Office so that it can be recorded and placed on the map. Through this practice says Harris, several thousand Aboriginal names have been recorded as at 1893. He also refers to the official gazetting of place names, either in the South Australian government gazette or in communication with the Home, [British] Government, by the early governors of the colony.

Charles Hope Harris obtained his surveyor's licence in 1869, and in 1871 was hired by the South Australian government to conduct surveys in the northern agricultural regions, and in 1874 to conduct trigonometrical surveys north-west of Port Augusta. He discovered and mapped Lake Harris, which was named for him by the government. Harris was Examiner of Licensed Surveyors' Work, a lecturer on surveying at the School of Mines and was the state's acknowledged expert on the variation and dip of the magnetic needle. Among a number of other books and articles he wrote Field service; handbook for Government Surveyors, the fourth edition of which was published in 1914. He maintained a keen interest in the early history of South Australia and on the use of Aboriginal names for place names.