The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Black, Alexander
Black, Alexander, ex-Surveyor-General of Victoria, was born in Banffshire, educated in Aberdeen as a land surveyor, and emigrated to Victoria in 1852, where he arrived in December, and proceeded to the Castlemaine goldfield. He returned to Melbourne in 1853, and practised his profession. On April 18th, 1854, he was appointed Government Assistant-Surveyor, and Geodetic Surveyor in 1860, and in this capacity surveyed the boundary line between Victoria and New South Wales. Mr. Black became District Surveyor in 1871, Assistant Surveyor-General in 1878, and succeeded to his late position of Surveyor-General of Victoria on the retirement of Mr. Skene in 1886. Mr. Black was a member of the Board of Land and Works, a Commissioner of Land Tax, and Chairman of Parks and Gardens Committees until he retired in 1892.