theodolite

It's hard to tell, but that may be a theodolite on the tripod used for surveying. Each of the three legs appears to be sitting on a specially preapred surface, not merely the grass lawn. Maybe that's what Point E is. A surveying marker point for the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction. That looks like J.J.C. Bradfield at the far right.

Of course, it is a surveying line, for the then proposed construction of the Bridge. Bradfiled may also be sighted in other surveying photographs taken on that date, 17/03/1925, such as this one approaching Governement House:

Here is a diagram of the surveying Base Lines used to triangulate the centre line for the Sydney Harbour Bridge showing Point E in front of Government House:

This photograph is one of a series that was researched as part of the ‘Archives, Histories, Landscapes: Surveying Sierra Leone’s Cultural Memoryscape’ project funded by the British Academy and led by Paul Basu at University College London. It was taken during the Anglo-French Boundary Commission of 1891-92, which sought to determine the boundary between French Guinea and what would become the British Protectorate of Sierra Leone. The British contingent was led by Captain A. H. Kenney of the Royal Engineers. Other members of the British expedition included Surgeon Major J. J. Lamprey, the botanist G. F. Scott-Elliot, three non-commissioned officers of the Royal Engineers (Sergeant Gibson, 2nd Corporal McGregor and Lance-Corporal Lines), and a Sierra Leonean interpreter named Mahmadu Wakka. They were escorted by a troop of the Frontier Police under the command of Captain Campbell. During the expedition Scott-Elliot collected around 2,000 botanical specimens for Kew Herbarium and prepared a parliamentary report on his findings. Due to disagreements between the French and British parties, the Boundary Commission itself was not successful and was abandoned by the French Commissioners. A second, more successful Anglo-French Boundary Commission was organised in 1895-96, which demarcated much of the existing boundary between Guinea and Sierra Leone. At the time of the 1891-92 expedition, the region was being destabilised not only by the expansion of British and French colonial interests, but also by the aggressive tactics of Samory Touré’s Sofa army as it fought to maintain the territory of the Wassoulou Empire. Kenney reported that they saw ‘abundant evidence of the devastation wrought by the Sofas when they over-ran the country in 1885’, and as they proceeded further inland there were also signs of more recent conflict. Despite the failure of the Commission, the British contingent continued inland as far as Farana on the banks of the River Niger, and met with the Sofa general Kemo Bilalé at Heremakono before returning to Freetown. The photographs in this album document the progress of the expedition. Although the locations were not written alongside the photographs, they can be identified with varying degrees of accuracy by comparing the dates with the itinerary described in the reports prepared by Kenney and Scott-Elliot. On 28 February 1892 the Commission was in the vicinity of Kassa across the border in present day Guinea. The photograph shows two members of the Commission posing with their theodolite.

Thank you for the readable name tag, SDASM.

I don't know what manufacturer makes this theodolite. It might be a Zeiss? If you know, please add a tag.

Which Q. A. lab this guy works in is unclear. There are some Saltarellis in Tustin city government. There are two in the San Diego phone book but no Phillip.