Explorers gather information about the new country they travel through: inhabitants, geology, rivers, mountains. This information, states EC Frome, former Surveyor-General of South Australia, together with the map they produce assists the surveyor in selecting the site for the main town. The explorer should check important points by astronomical observation where possible, together with the altitudes of any significant heights. Frome outlines the principal requirements for the main town which include plentiful water, easy access to both the interior of the country and to a good harbour, access to timber and other building materials and access to adequate land for pastoral and agricultural purposes.

Captain Edward Charles Frome, Royal Engineers, arrived in South Australia in September 1839 to take up the task of surveying South Australia. The country blocks were his immediate priority. This was a task that the first Surveyor-General, William Light had been unable to complete because of interference from London. Frome had an onerous task as the colonists clamoured for their land. He had not only to revise the work that had been inadequately marked by George Kingston, Light's second-in-command, but also to undertake the commencement of the Special Surveys of very large country sections. By 1841 Frome had laid out roads and secondary towns and taken accurate trigonometrical survey to the limits of settlement. Frome returned to England in 1849 and retired in 1877 with the rank of General.

Frome, Edward Charles, 1802-1890

State Library of South Australia: Mortlock Wing. Taking it to the edge August 2004-