page_title: 8th Field Survey Squadron
hierarchical_section_title: 8th Field Survey Squadron
caption_attribution_description: Headquarters 8 Fd Svy Sqn at Wewak PNG
context_page_description: 8 Field Survey Squadron was a unit of the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Survey Corps, being raised in December 1971 at Popondetta, Territory of Papua New Guinea and disbanded twenty-four years later on 1 December 1995 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The Squadron's role was to provide geodetic surveys, survey control for topographic mapping, map compilation, identification/spot and supplementary air photography and field completion of compiled maps. It also supported the PNG Defence Force and provided advice to PNG National Mapping Bureau on all aspects of survey and mapping.
  The unit was based at Popondetta, then Wewak and then Port Moresby. Although based in these towns, the unit operated across the entire country from the border with Indonesia in the west to Bougainville in the east. The squadron served full-time in PNG from it being a Territory of Australia, to self government in December 1973, to Independence on 16 September 1975 and then for another 20 years. After Independence the survey and mapping assistance was under the auspices of Australia's Defence Cooperation Program.
context_section_description: 8 Field Survey Squadron (8 Fd Svy Sqn) was a unit of the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Survey Corps (RA Svy), being raised in December 1971 at Popondetta, Territory of Papua New Guinea and disbanded twenty-four years later on 1 December 1995 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG).  The Squadron's role was to provide geodetic surveys, survey control for topographic mapping, map compilation, identification/spot and supplementary air photography and field completion of compiled maps.  It also supported the PNG Defence Force and provided advice to PNG National Mapping Bureau on all aspects of survey and mapping.  
  The unit was based at Popondetta (January 1972 – June 1975), then Wewak (June 1975 – June 1980) and then Port Moresby (June 1980 – December 1995). Although based in these towns, the unit operated across the entire country from the border with Indonesia in the west to Bougainville in the east. The squadron served full-time in PNG from it being a Territory of Australia, to self government in December 1973, to Independence on 16 September 1975 and then for another 20 years. After Independence the survey and mapping assistance was under the auspices of Australia's Defence Cooperation Program.
  Unit accommodation at Popondetta in the Northern District was in the recently vacated District Engineers Office (Royal Australian Engineers) which had moved to Mendi in the Southern Highlands.  When the unit moved to Wewak in July 1975 it was accommodated in Moem Barracks on Cape Moem, the home of the 2nd Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment. With the 1:100,000 mapping programme complete in 1980, the unit (much reduced in personnel) then moved to Port Moresby.
  Like any military unit there were often miscellaneous tasks to be done. Popondetta is located between Kokoda and the Gona-Sanananda-Buna Second World War battlefield sites and large airbase complexes around Dobodura. The unit was often called upon to assist with Explosive Ordnance Demolition tasks in those areas. Mount Lamington, a volcano which exploded in 1951 killing more than 3000 people up to 14km away, is 20km south-west of Popondetta. One of the daily duties of the Squadron was to observe the vertical angle, by theodolite, to the mountaintop to compute any apparent change in height. Results were reported to the Rabaul Vulcanology Observatory.
caption: Headquarters 8 Fd Svy Sqn at Moem Barracks, Cape Moem, Wewak