Maps and charts

The Preservation Team has recently completed digitising the Western Australia Bonnes 80 chain cadastral series of maps covering most of the lower third of Western Australia and showing land boundaries from approximately 1896-1984.

The map was designed and engraved by the Nuremberg cartographer Philip Eckebrecht at the request of his friend Johannes Kepler. The map was intended to illustrate his Rudolphine Tables, used to more precisely calculate the positions of the moon and the known planets.

A new addition to the State Library collection, the Hondius World Map by Jodocus Hondius the younger (1594 – 1629) is the earliest printed map to show the recent Dutch explorations on the West Coast of Australia.

The State Library has five editions of a hemispherical map centred on the South Pole. These show southern parts of South America and South Africa and the west and south coasts of Australia.

In 1915 and 1917, our historical maps of Gallipoli and Ypres were working documents. Paying attention to them could be the difference between a soldier writing home or someone else writing to their family.

Peter Edwards, Heritage Team Librarian, discusses original ANZAC materials from the State Library archives.