William Wedge Darke

William Wedge Darke (1810-1890) was an Australian colonist and surveyor, the son of John Darke of Hereford and Elizabeth Darke, née Wedge, and younger brother of John Charles Darke and a nephew of John Helder Wedge from whom he learnt his profession. He arrived in Van Diemens Land in 1927 with his parents, younger brother Henry and sister Elizabeth.

In the early 1830s he was in private practice in Van Diemens Land as a surveyor, then moved to New South Wales where he joined the survey department. In 1836 he was sent as an Assistant Surveyor under Robert Russell to survey the new settlement at Port Phillip.

At Port Phillip Darke carried out some of the first surveys of the new town of Melbourne and was instrumental in laying out the streets of the new town for sale at the first land auctions.

He had numerous disputes with Robert Hoddle and was eventually engaged on a contract basis.

In 1843 he returned to New South Wales.

Many of his field notebooks are held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney.