Alexander Garvie

Limited detail on his early life exists until his departure for New Zealand aboard the barque Blundell from the port of Gravesend, England, on 4 May 1848.

In 1856, under Proudfoot’s direction, the preliminary surveys for the development of the Southland District towns of Bluff and Invercargill were made by Garvie.

[5][6][7] John Turnbull Thomson, Otago Province Chief Surveyor, completed the work due to Proudfoot’s ill health.

[7] In 1857–58, as Assistant Surveyor under John Turnbull Thomson, Garvie helped carry out extensive topographical surveys in Central Otago to delineate the boundaries of the pastoral leases.

[9] Garvie's greatest enduring legacy, in spite of his rather short career as a surveyor, is his naming of The Remarkables mountain range near Queenstown, Otago.