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Kōrero: Modern mapping and surveying

Meridional circuits

This map shows the 28 meridional circuits established by John Turnbull Thomson in the late 1870s. Each circuit was a block of land with a primary station, whose location was carefully established by astronomical observations. The station formed the basis of the triangulation networks which followed.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1879, H-19 (B-K 969-H19/4-5)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Melanie Lovell-Smith, Modern mapping and surveying – Government surveying and mapping, 1870–1900, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/zoomify/18892/meridional-circuits (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Melanie Lovell-Smith, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009, updated 1 August 2018.