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Join a national, vibrant community of spatial professionals working together to sustain the spatial industry.

Collective investment in knowledge

The Surveyors’ Trust champions the recognition, protection and commercialisation of intellectual property for spatial professionals across Australia.

We pool the royalties from the sale of plans developed by our contributor surveyors and apply these pooled funds to finance projects that advance the expertise of surveyors, recognise the work of surveyors and protect the ongoing sustainability of Australia’s spatial industry and associated intellectual property.

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Become a contributor

Use the following QR code or this link to access the Contributor registration form

Our History

The Surveyors’ Trust was formed following several years of legal debate regarding ownership of survey plan copyrights, culminating in a decision in favour of surveyors in the High Court of Australia in 2008. The Trust was formed to pool the returns from royalties paid for copying of surveyors’ plans and using that pool of funds for the benefit of the industry.

Legal debate led by Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) continued in the Federal Court to determine the rate of royalties payable for government copying of survey plans. That debate was concluded in 2014 for NSW and has been extended to other jurisdictions. CAL signed an agreement with the Queensland Government early in 2015 and others have followed since.

The Trust is owned by surveyors, administered by surveyors, and all royalties are paid back into the state from where the surveyors are registered.

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Current Projects

Past Projects

International Talent Attraction

Looking to sponsor a surveyor from overseas? International Skills is a FREE site for the surveying community to access talented surveyors from around the World.

New Surveying Industry Website

Everything Surveying is an industry portal where the national industry is profiled and can be accessed to filter out links specific to your needs.