Arthur Goodger passed the examination for the Certificate of proficiency in the Theory of Land Surveying of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1883 and was admitted as a land surveyor in the Cape Colony in 1885. From about 1894 he worked mainly in Griqualand East, the Transkei and Pondoland (now parts of the Eastern Cape) surveying and drawing up plans of Mount Ayliff (1894), Qumbu (1894-1896 and 1904), Tsolo (1897, with C.P. Watermeyer*), Mount Fletcher (1897), Umtata (1898), Matatiele (1898), Flagstaff (1902), Ngqeleni (1902), Tabankulu (1902), Mqanduli (1903), and Elliotdale (1903-1904). Towards the end of 1902 he was employed on the secondary triangulation of East Griqualand under the direction of J.J. Bosman*, his tasks being to reconnoitre, erect beacons, and make observations.

In 1884 Goodger presented a large number of Karoo fossils from the neighbourhood of Alice and Fort Beaufort to the Albany Museum, Grahamstown. They were said to be mainly Dicynodon and Saurian remains. In 1888 he was present at the first meeting of the short-lived South African Geological Association in Grahamstown and was elected a member of its committee. He was married to Sarah Ann Goodger, but had no children.

List of sources:
Cape of Good Hope. Report of the committee of the Albany Museum, 1884.

Cape of Good Hope. Report of the Surveyor-General, 1885, 1903.

FamilySearch: Arthur Goodger. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-956Q-9M74?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:W1FQ-QTW2&action=view and https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQ8-7S1K-R?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:QL56-6VZY&action=view

Grocott's Penny Mail, 4 July 1888, p. 3, "South African Geological Society".

Johannes Jacobus Bosman. A memoir. South African Survey Journal, 1924, Vol. 1(3), pp. 126-137.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Goodger, Arthur / Goodger, A.

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1884/5.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2024-08-06 10:34:48