My Account
2 June 1938 – 10 November 2023
The life of one of the district’s most respected and experienced land surveyors, Ron Buckton, was celebrated in the Warkworth Anglican Christ Church on November 16. Mourners came from many walks of life, a tribute to Ron’s many and varied interests. Although he loved boating, fishing, farming, tramping and gardening, was a founding volunteer of the Warkworth Foodlink, a Freemason and former member of the Warkworth Brass Band, son-in-law Mark Dudley said family and church were the bedrock of his life.
The Bucktons are descendants of Joseph Buckton, an Albertlander, one of the settlers who arrived in Port Albert from England in 1862. Ron was born in the Warkworth Maternity Hospital on View Road, the second son of Earnie and Eileen. He started school at Tauhoa, completing his education as head boy at Warkworth District High School.
After leaving school, he worked for a short time in a bank and then as a trainee engineering draftsman.
However, when he turned 18, he was called up for compulsory military training and it was during his time in the NZ Army that he trained as an artillery surveyor in the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery.
This cemented his decision to make surveying his career.
He returned to Warkworth and started as a cadet, training under Peter Clifton. Working during the day and studying by correspondence at night, Ron qualified as a registered surveyor in 1963. He then took over Clifton’s practice, which was the start of Buckton Surveyors. With the support of fellow surveyors Fraser Perkins, Kevin Taylor, Peter Frost and Pat Ward, and later Rick O’Flaherty and Tony Hayman, the business grew and by Ron’s retirement in 2002, the company employed more than a dozen staff.
The early work was typically small to medium scale urban (residential and industrial) subdivisions, small to large scale rural subdivisions, road legalisation surveys, boundary redefinition surveys, topographical surveys, Māori land surveys, land monitoring surveys and survey control surveys. Ron was involved in the surveying of a large section of the Marsden Point to Wiri oil and gas pipelines that passed through Rodney, as well as urban developments such as the Woodcocks Road industrial area, Omaha South, Hauiti Drive, Campbell Drive, Victoria Street, Albert Road and Melwood Drive.
Ron’s career spanned the period between the end of the pioneering surveyors using simple but effective survey equipment such as theodolites, through to the start of the technological revolution, where current survey professionals now use high-end digital technology and complex software. GPS hadn’t been invented when he started and distances were typically measured using a steel chain.
Calculations were made using log tables and a slide rule. These were the days when a subdivision consent application to Council could fit on a single A4 page.
Basic calculators then came along, followed by the first office computer, which was wheeled between staff on a trolley for those who needed to use it. Software was loaded onto it every time it was turned on by feeding about 12 magnetic cards into it. All plan drafting was done by hand, and early plans were hand-coloured using water-based paints and brushes. Communications usually involved posted letters, until fax machines came along.
Ron was remembered by colleagues as being an easy going and highly respected surveyor. He was a mentor to many aspiring surveyors, generously sharing his wealth of knowledge and fostering a new generation of professionals. He encouraged senior surveyors to join the survey institute and was in his element visiting a farm to talk to an owner about a project or taking a field crew over to Kawau Island on his boat.
Ron married Angela Baddeley in St Leonards Church in Matakana in 1968, and children Kara and Peter arrived in 1970 and 1973. Around this time, the couple bought a bach in North Cove on Kawau Island, which is still a much-loved holiday destination for the family. After retirement, Ron and Angela became avid travellers.
Ron is survived by his wife of nearly 55 years, Angela, children Peter and Kara, two granddaughters and a great-granddaughter.
