Today we take it for granted that we know the shape of the earth and what lies beyond
the horizon. Satellite images enable us to confirm that our maps are accurate; we can talk
to people instantly, even from opposite sides of the world. But how would you know what was
beyond the horizon if communications were more difficult, and how would you pass on this
information to others?
Although Europeans did not discover Australia - a flourishing Aboriginal culture already
existed there - they were the driving force behind the mapping of the continent. Europeans
imagined land in the southern hemisphere long before it was seen by explorers. The unknown
continent gradually changed as more land was charted and the real shape of the Australian
continent began to emerge. This exhibition tells the story of Australia as seen through the
eyes of these European cartographers, from the early imaginary maps up to 1901, when the British
colonies on the Australian continent were united into a new nation with a federal structure.
The images here are just a selection related to the theme. Items on display in the exhibition
centre include:
- A map of the world, 1540, by Sebastian Münster, Professor of Hebrew at Basle University,
showing the Southern ocean without the landmass of Australasia. This map, which was the first
to use the name 'Pacific Ocean' in print, is the oldest item in the exhibition.
- Willem Blaeu’s map of India and adjacent islands, first published in 1635 and showing
the very first discoveries along the west coast of the yet-to-be-named Cape York Peninsula.
- A complete map of the southern continent by Emanuel Bowen, 1744: the first map by
an Englishman to show only Australia. Bowen has stated on the map:
it is impossible to
conceive a country that promises fairer from its situation than this...
- Maps and views taken from John Hawkesworth’s 1773 account of Cook’s first voyage, which
illustrates the key role played by Captain James Cook in defining the east coast of Australia.
A fully interactive CD ROM, Endeavour, (produced jointly by
the National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum) tells the
story of the journey using text, images and video.
Click on the images for more detail.
Henricus Hondius (1597-1651)
Extract from: Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac hydrographica tabula
[A new map of the world's land & seas]
From Nouvel atlas, ou, Theatre du monde.
Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius, 1656
Atlas.3.65.7
Originally published in 1630, this was the first world map to show the earliest European
discoveries in Australia. Dutchman Willem Jansz came across the western coast of the Cape
York Peninsula early in 1606. This new land is shown on the extreme right of the map,
disconnected from the mythical Terra Australis Incognita. The map was included, virtually
unchanged, in atlases for over 30 years. The map on display is dated 1641.
Original on display in exhibition centre
Willem Blaeu (1571-1638)
Extract from: India quae orientalis dicitur et insulae adiacentes
[The Indies, called eastern, and neighbouring islands]
from Atlas maior [The larger atlas]
Amsterdam: Johannes Blaeu, 1662
Atlas.2.66.10
A detail from a map of the East Indies showing, outlined in pink, the first European
discoveries along the Cape York Peninsula. Early in 1606,
towards the northern tip of the peninsula, Willem Jansz made here what was almost certainly the
first landing by Europeans in Australia. This map first appeared in 1635 and was reprinted
unchanged until 1664.
Original on display in exhibition centre
Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718)
Extract from: Asia diuisa nelle sue parti secondo lo stato presente
[Asia divided according to its present parts]
from Atlante Veneto
Venice, 1696
Atlas.3.69.4 (20)
The Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, controlled much of the trade in the region in
the mid-seventeenth century. En route to the Spice Islands of the Pacific they discovered
further parts of the Australian coast. In 1642 and 1644 Abel Tasman embarked on two separate
voyages which filled many of the gaps in Dutch knowledge of the western and northern coasts.
He also encountered Tasmania which he dutifully called Van Diemen’s Land after his sponsor,
Anthony van Diemen, Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.
Jacques Bellin (1703-1772)
Carte réduite des terres australes
from A. F. Prévost: Histoire générale des voyages
Vol.11. Paris: Didot, 1753
Mm.49.15
This is one of the few maps in the eighteenth century devoted entirely to Australia.
Jacques Bellin was hydrographer to the French King Louis XIV. He has added a hypothetical
coast line joining Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania - a note says that this is included without
proof. It is further suggested that New Zealand might be part of the great southern continent.
John Gibson (fl. 1750-1792) & Thomas Bowen (ca. 1732/3-1790)
Botany Bay, in New South Wales
from John Hawkesworth: An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His Present
Majesty for making discoveries in the southern hemisphere.
Vol. 3. London: W. Strahan & T. Cadell, 1773
Cruising Association Library; Hanson.b.95
James Cook was the first person to map and explore the east coast of Australia. On 29 April
1770, on the southern peninsula of Botany Bay, James Cook made his first landing on Australian
soil. Together with botanist Joseph Banks he formed a very favourable opinion of the area, which
they spent a week exploring. The map was engraved from a manuscript chart drawn by James Cook
and Isaac Smith (a cousin of Cook’s wife and expert draughtsman who accompanied Cook on the
Endeavour).
Original on display in exhibition centre
Matthew Flinders (1774-1814)
General chart of Terra Australis or Australia; showing parts explored bewteen 1798 and
1803
London: G. & W. Nicol, 1814
Atlas.0.81.1
This chart was published in the atlas that accompanied Matthew Flinders’ Voyage to Terra
Australia - an account of his 1801-1803 journey in HMS Investigator during which he
confirmed that the eastern and western parts of the continent were not separate land masses and
filled in many gaps in British knowledge of the coastline. On his homeward journey Flinders was
imprisoned in Mauritius from 1803 to 1810 - hence the delay in publication. Discoveries made
since 1803 were included in the chart to make it of immediate use to navigators.
John Rapkin
Western Australia, Swan River
from R. Montgomery Martin: The illustrated atlas and modern history of the world,
geographical, political, commercial & statistical.
London: John Tallis, ca. 1865
Atlas.2.65.1 (38)
From 1788 British settlements began to be established on the Australian coastline. Those in
Western Australia encountered considerable problems in attracting colonists: convicts were
excluded and free immigrants tended to prefer the eastern settlements. Several editions of the
Illustrated atlas were published between 1851 and about 1865. The maps were engraved on steel
plates, were constantly revised and combined accurate cartography with decorative art, reviving
a tradition commenced by the seventeenth century Dutch cartographers.
Opening Times, Admission and Map.
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