James Sprent (1808 - September 22, 1863) was an English surveyor and mapmaker active in Tasmania in the mid-19th century. Sprent was born in Manchester, England, and received degrees at Glasgow University (1825) and St. John's College, Cambridge. He emigrated to Tasmania in May of 1830 hoping to take advantage of free land grants. On arrival he established a school for boys in Hobart Town - and from 1832, for girls as well. Sprent' application for a land grand was refused in 1833, but at the same time he was appointed to begin work on the first large-scale trigonometrical survey the island. Sprint and another surveyor, James Erskine Calder (1808 - 1882), worked on the survey for 4 years before it was paused and defunded in 1837. He nonetheless maintained his government position as 'Assistant Surveyor' and was assigned in 1841 to complete a detailed survey of Hobart Town. The survey was reinstituted in 1847 under lieutenant-governor William Denison (1804 - 1871). For the next 10 years Sprent and Calder meticulously surveyed the entire island. In 1857, military surveyors in Tasmania were replaced by civilian surveyors and Sprent was elevated to Surveyor-General. The work was finally published in 1859. Sprent retired in the same year, due to ill health. His heath continued to decline until he died in his Hobart home in 1863. More by this mapmaker...

William Hogan (1805 - July 30, 1870) was a surveyor, mining engineer, and draftsman active in Tasmania, Australia, in the second half of the 19th century. In 1856, Hogan received a land grand of 'one acre and 25 parcels' in the 'Township of Welsh'. Welsh was apparently a township planned in the vicinity of Gardeners Bay Inlet that never materialized. Little else is known of this elusive figure. He appears on government payrolls on and off in the mid-19th century, but not consistently. In 1858 he was contracted to compile the Sprent/Calder surveys into the first large-scale trigonometrical map of Tasmania. Learn More...

Alexander Keith Johnston (December 28, 1804 - July 9, 1871) was a Scottish cartographer and map publisher active in the middle portion of the 19th century. Johnson was born at Kirkhill, near Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh where he apprenticed as an engraver. Around 1826, in partnership with his brother William, he founded a cartographic printing and engraving firm with the imprint "W. and A. K. Johnston." Johnston made a name for himself in educational geography, publishing numerous maps for use in schools. His brother, William Johnston, eventually left the firm to pursue a career in politics, eventually becoming the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Alexander's son, who would bear the same name, became a geographer and explorer, suffering an untimely death on the Royal Geographical Society's 1879 expedition to Lake Nyasa. Learn More...