Hoddle migrated to the Australian colonies, arriving in Sydney, New South Wales, aboard the William Penn in July 1823.
Governor Brisbane appointed him assistant surveyor under Surveyor-General John Oxley.
Hoddle spent the next twelve years in Queensland and later still in New South Wales where he surveyed the sites for the  towns of Berrima and Goulburn as well as Bell's Line of Road in the Blue Mountains.
Between 1830 and 1836, Hoddle made several visits to the rural district now occupied by the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.), where he surveyed property boundaries.
 Squatters were urgently pressing for government surveyors to legalise their rural holdings.
Hoddle’s field book indexes the history of the aforementioned areas and pastoralists— George Palmer, Robert Campbell and Hamilton Hume.

Hoddle arrived in Port Phillip, the future site for Melbourne, in March 1837 in company with Governor Bourke, as senior surveyor with his assistants D'Arcy and Darke.
He was to take charge of the surveying work which had been begun by Robert Russell, who many years later claimed to have surveyed the first grid of streets.
Whether Hoddle started to survey from scratch or used Russell's initial survey had been a subject of controversy, but they both followed the then standard grid layout and alignment.
 Hoddle's survey, a copy of which survives in the Public Record Office of Victoria, is dated 25 March 1837, and covered the area from Flinders Street to Lonsdale Street, and from Spencer Street to Spring Street.
The principal streets were one and a half chains wide (30 m), and at the insistence of Bourke, smaller east-west streets a half chain wide (10 m) were inserted, intended to furnish back entrances (but quickly became frontages in their own right).
This layout of came to be known as the Hoddle Grid.

In 1837, at the same time as Melbourne, Hoddle laid out the first blocks of Williamstown, but without rear laneways.
In 1838 he laid out Geelong, including narrow laneways as in the Melbourne grid.
His layouts for each were typical of the time, being square or rectangular grids, aligned with features such as rivers or waterfront, surrounded by government reserve for future expansion, government buildings, ports and the like.

Hoddle subdivided the land beyond the angled city grid on a one mile north-south grid, creating much larger allotments.
The areas closest to the city in what is now Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond, were soon subdivided by speculators creating the sometimes quite narrow streets and irregular grid pattern.
Hoddle's subdivision of East Melbourne was far more regular.

Hoddle was in favour of the principal entry streets being a generous width of 60m, which he applied to what are now Melbourne's tree-lined boulevards, such as St. Kilda Road, Victoria Parade, Elizabeth Street in Carlton, and the roads branching off that: Royal Parade and Flemington Road.
He advocated widening the other existing major roads without success.
In 1853 he was gently asked to retire in favour of Andrew Young, who is credited with the subdivisions of Carlton, North Fitzroy, and South Geelong that include formal parks, squares and crescents.
Hoddle migrated to the Australian colonies, arriving in Sydney, New South Wales, aboard the William Penn in July 1823. Governor Brisbane appointed him assistant surveyor under Surveyor-General John Oxley. Hoddle spent the next twelve years in Queensland and later still in New South Wales where he surveyed the sites for the  towns of Berrima and Goulburn as well as Bell's Line of Road in the Blue Mountains. Between 1830 and 1836, Hoddle made several visits to the rural district now occupied by the Australian Capital Territory (A.C.T.), where he surveyed property boundaries.  Squatters were urgently pressing for government surveyors to legalise their rural holdings. Hoddle’s field book indexes the history of the aforementioned areas and pastoralists— George Palmer, Robert Campbell and Hamilton Hume.
Hoddle arrived in Port Phillip, the future site for Melbourne, in March 1837 in company with Governor Bourke, as senior surveyor with his assistants D'Arcy and Darke. He was to take charge of the surveying work which had been begun by Robert Russell, who many years later claimed to have surveyed the first grid of streets. Whether Hoddle started to survey from scratch or used Russell's initial survey had been a subject of controversy, but they both followed the then standard grid layout and alignment.  Hoddle's survey, a copy of which survives in the Public Record Office of Victoria, is dated 25 March 1837, and covered the area from Flinders Street to Lonsdale Street, and from Spencer Street to Spring Street. The principal streets were one and a half chains wide (30 m), and at the insistence of Bourke, smaller east-west streets a half chain wide (10 m) were inserted, intended to furnish back entrances (but quickly became frontages in their own right). This layout of came to be known as the Hoddle Grid.
In 1837, at the same time as Melbourne, Hoddle laid out the first blocks of Williamstown, but without rear laneways. In 1838 he laid out Geelong, including narrow laneways as in the Melbourne grid. His layouts for each were typical of the time, being square or rectangular grids, aligned with features such as rivers or waterfront, surrounded by government reserve for future expansion, government buildings, ports and the like.
Hoddle subdivided the land beyond the angled city grid on a one mile north-south grid, creating much larger allotments. The areas closest to the city in what is now Fitzroy, Collingwood and Richmond, were soon subdivided by speculators creating the sometimes quite narrow streets and irregular grid pattern. Hoddle's subdivision of East Melbourne was far more regular.
Hoddle was in favour of the principal entry streets being a generous width of 60m, which he applied to what are now Melbourne's tree-lined boulevards, such as St. Kilda Road, Victoria Parade, Elizabeth Street in Carlton, and the roads branching off that: Royal Parade and Flemington Road. He advocated widening the other existing major roads without success. In 1853 he was gently asked to retire in favour of Andrew Young, who is credited with the subdivisions of Carlton, North Fitzroy, and South Geelong that include formal parks, squares and crescents.
Robert Hoddle