Adelaide Photographic Co., c. 1867, Photograph, B 11347
Composite of portraits of officers of First Northern Territory Survey, Expedition, 1864 to 1867. J.T. Manton, E. Ward, F.E. Goldsmith, B.T. Finniss, W. Pearson, S. King Sen., J. Davis. B.T. Finniss was appointed first Government Resident in the Northern Territory and tasked with establishing the capital city at a site suitable for a town and a port with good accessibility to the hinterland. At this stage Finniss was 57 with only 10 years experience in the army and only 4 years as a surveyor. Surveyor John Manton was second in command of a complement of 40 men. Upon arrival they proclaimed a colony around a barrel of beer in a tent