Between 1830 and early 1835, James Larmer surveyed land, roads, streets, coastlines, creeks, rivers, and ridges in what is now
greater Sydney, in nearby areas including
Broke and
Branxton in the Hunter,
Brooklyn,
Mangrove Creek,
Broken Bay and
Pittwater around the
Hawkesbury River, and in more distant parts including the
Abercrombie,
Campbells,
Belubela,
Bell, and
Macquarie Rivers. which attempted to follow the
Darling River downstream to its confluence with the
Murray. Larmer, in command of the main party, left
Parramatta and met Mitchell at Boree, east-northeast of modern-day
Cudal. The expedition first went overland, followed by the
Bogan River, and then the Darling from the location of modern-day
Bourke. While near the Bogan, the expedition's botanist,
Richard Cunningham, went off searching for plants and became lost. It was Larmer who led a party that searched for him for a number of days, finding his dead horse and other evidence of his likely demise. Larmer produced a map sketch showing Cunningham's probable route. The expedition stopped to the north of the
Menindee Lakes, due to the risk of attack by hostile Aborigines, falling short of their objective—but in no doubt that the Darling continued to the Murray—and then retraced their route to return. The connection of the Murray and the Darling, would be confirmed for settler colonists, in 1844, when
Charles Sturt's third expedition, following a river upstream from its confluence with the Murray, reached the site of Mitchell's last camp. During the return journey, the expedition separated into two parts on the Bogan, east of modern-day
Girilambone; Mitchell continued moving upstream on Bogan River, and Larmer lead a group to survey Duck Creek, a little to the north of what became
Canonba. The groups were reunited at modern-day
Buddabadah, near modern-day
Nyngan. In 1837, Larmer had reserved a village site for
Ulladulla. in 1838
Queanbeyan, and, in 1839, the town plans of
Broulee and
Braidwood. In 1840, he surveyed the route of
The Wool Road. By this time, he had settled in the Braidwood area, where he was to live for the rest of his life and be a prominent citizen. Larmer bought land in Braidwood, in 1843, on which he built the Royal Hotel building but was not the licensee of the hotel. However, his mistakes at Larbert had no malicious intent, because Larmer himself had bought three lots within the Larbert township site, in 1843. An economic depression in the early 1840s led to government cost cutting, with surveyors’ salaries being reduced by a third. In recognition of this sacrifice, these government surveyors were allowed to do some private work. In 1847, Larmer's plan of the village of
Gundaroo was gazetted and — as a Commissioner for Crown Lands — he identified people who were
squatting, without authority, on crown lands along the
Yass River downstream of that village. In 1849, he designed the plan of the village of
Murringo and, In 1851, he surveyed a road from that new village to the Burrangong Station (near modern-day
Young). The town of
Gundagai was gazetted, in 1838, but it was soon obvious—after the
floods of 1844 and 1852—that much of the original town site was subject to inundation. In 1845, Larmer was surveying new town allotments on the higher ground of the original town. In the eyes of some, he was held responsible for the original plan of the first town on the flood-prone river flats; Also in 1850, he made provision for a village site, on the
Lachlan River at what would later become the town of
Narrandera. In 1851, he surveyed the site of the Roman Catholic church and presbytery in
Jugiong. He also laid out cemeteries at
Yass and
Goulburn, Such a road was not completed until the late 1860s. Instead, the major road to the coast was the Clyde Road (modern-day
Kings Highway), which opened in 1858. In 1858, a surveyor Larmer laid out the plan of the gold-mining village of
Majors Creek but James Larmer's name was already on the list of those receiving government pensions by October 1857. Majors Creek was the work of his nephew, who was also a surveyor. James Larmer's last field notes date from 1859, and it appears that he retired completely from surveying around that time. With other JPs, he presided over cases in the town's Police Court, until 1885. His cases included some involving relatives and associates of the notorious
Clarke brothers and other
bushrangers, who were members of the Clarke-Connell extended family. He was one of the magistrates who, in 1866, committed John Clarke (Senior)—father of the Clarke brothers—for trial for the murder of an Aboriginal man, Billy Noonang. In May 1867, Thomas and John Clarke, the surviving members of their gang, were remanded, at the Police Court in Braidwood, for trial in Sydney. However, it was Larmer's colleague, John William Bunn, who was the magistrate who committed them for trial, although Larmer, possibly, may have been present. In 1860, Larmer was proposed as a candidate for the
Braidwood electoral district at the
1860 elections, but he did not stand for election. == Aboriginal languages vocabulary ==