The ship’s log
One hundred and forty years, kept on the record.
The story of Australia’s oldest marine surveying firm runs from a master mariner coming ashore in 1883 to the surveyors attending Australian ports today. The firm still holds its first survey report.
1816
Founded
26+
Years in practice
1883
The firm is founded
Captain John Vine Hall — apprenticed on the full-rigged ship Caduceus, Master with the NZ & Australian Mail Co., and commander of the second Orient Line steamer out of London — comes ashore after twenty-five years at sea and founds the marine survey business in Sydney, acting as agents and surveyors for classification societies.
Early 1900s
Vine Hall, Howell & Gibson
Captain D. W. Gibson joins the practice. The firm trades as Vine Hall, Howell & Gibson, extending its reputation among owners and underwriters.
1950
Gibson and Minto Pty Ltd
On the passing of Captain Vine Hall, Captain T. Minto joins and the firm becomes Gibson and Minto Pty Ltd — continuity of practice across the generations.
1960s
Gibson Minto & Aiton
Captain Neil Aiton becomes partner, and the firm takes the name it carries today: Gibson Minto & Aiton Marine and Cargo Surveyors Pty Ltd.
1973
Captain Munro Kirkland joins
On Captain Minto's retirement, Captain Munro Kirkland — Neil Aiton's lifelong friend from the Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow and the Blue Funnel Line — becomes partner.
1978
The basis of Marine Orders Part 32
Appointed by the Waterside Workers Federation to examine access arrangements on cargo vessels, the firm's design work becomes the basis of Australian Marine Orders Part 32 — shaping safe access at sea to this day.
2017
AIMS Award for Excellence
The firm receives the AIMS Award for Excellence — President's Rising Star, with nominations for Marine Survey Practice of the Year and the Student Achievement Award.
Today
The oldest in Australia
Gibson Minto & Aiton continues as the oldest marine surveying company in Australia — Sydney-based, attending ports nationally and supporting international clients with the same standard of evidence applied in its first survey report.
The same standard, today
The firm that wrote its first survey in 1883 is ready to write yours.
Commission a vessel, cargo, insurance or specialised survey from Australia's longest-established marine surveyors.