Sydney Stokes further papers, mainly land and strata surveys, reports, diagrams and subdivision plans undertaken in Sydney by the firm Sydney W. Stokes and Miller, ca. 1918-1971

MLMSS 8204/Boxes 1-2
MLMSS 8204/Box 3X

fonds

ca. 1918-1971

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Architectural and Technical Drawings, Ephemera

140588

0.77 metres of textual material (2 boxes, 1 outsize box) - manuscript, typescript, printed, photocopies

Sydney William Stokes (1887-1972), was a Sydney surveyor who from 1926 practised in partnership with A. W. Miller. Their firm, S. W. Stokes & Miller, operated in Sydney's western suburbs, the northern beaches and central coast, and was increasingly involved in development projects in these areas.

Stokes was business manager (1925-1931), vice-president (1931-1932) and president (1932-1933) of the Institution of Surveyors, New South Wales, and elected as a life-member in 1955. While president, he tried to increase its public standing.

By 1939 he was also a local government engineer. Although he personally adhered to solo-surveying, he advocated the amalgamation of surveyors in private practice and foresaw the use of calculating machines within the profession. His business affairs were diverse. He dabbled in the stock market and suffered severe financial strain when the Riviera Co-operative Country Club Ltd collapsed in 1935.

He died on 9 August 1972 at the War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, and was cremated; his wife and their daughters survived him.

Reference:
Library Correspondence file
Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/ (accessed 23 December 2011)

BOX 1, BOX 2
Surveyors job papers (incomplete) including surveyor's correspondence, tracing plans, notes and diagrams mainly relating to the northern and western suburbs of Sydney, ca. 1926-1935. The job papers are numbered 1065-2765 (incomplete) in envelopes

BOX 2
Geographical card index to job papers (arranged by Municipality), 1931-1969

Surveyors account book of surveys undertaken for clients in Sydney, 1931-1941

Two printed publications, ‘A manual of the diseases of the eye’, 3rd Edition, by C. Macnamara, London, Churchill, 1876 and ‘Careers for Boys and Girls’ by G. R. Giles, published by Brown, Prior and Co Ltd, Melbourne, 1936

Personal papers of Sydney Stokes, mainly relating the surveying profession and associations, 1953-1970, Land Surveyor’s Exam Papers 1918, 1922, 1934 and personal membership to the Bellevue Hill Bowling Club 1960-1961, 1968. Includes publications and correspondence of the Institutes of Surveyors, Engineers and Valuers, receipts for motor mechanical repairs, Christmas card, letter from Chartres Limited advertising calculating machines, and correspondence relating to payment of fees, car license renewal and overdue subscription notice

BOX 3X
Loose surveyor notes, reports and diagrams relating to land and strata plans, surveys and subdivisions undertaken in North Sydney and Eastern suburbs, mainly Narrabeen, Vaucluse and Woollahra, ca. 1960-1971, including memos, receipts and correspondence mainly relating to the payment of surveying fees

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the author has been deceased for more than 50 years

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2011-2012

Some of this collection was separated from the original consignment at MLMSS 4468 when received by the Library in 1985

This collection was sent to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Ultimo for fumigation 14 January 1985.