The new Queensland Historical Atlas website was launched on Tuesday night at Brisbane's Customs House. The website is a collaborative project between the Queensland Museum and The University of Queensland. Planning began in 2006, resulting in a grant from the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme for 2007-10.
The website contains writings about the past, present and future history of the Queensland landscape in an innovative and flexible format to provide ample scope for the varied styles and expertise of the many contributors who come from a wide range of backgrounds. the digitised primary research material is arranged in 14 broad themes with an easy to use and intuitive format. Scholars from each of Queensland's universities contributed essays on the various themes including Quintessential Queensland, Distance, Division, Dreaming and Development. Material is presented by format essays, maps, photos, art and object, and presently includes over a thousand maps and images and over 200, 000 words of text.
To give you an idea of the breadth of the collection, the current Random Selections under maps include an 1848 Map of Mitchell's advance to the Maranoa, return to St George's Bridge and the quirky Tea-towel: Barrier Reef Pleasure Islands.
The current edition is the first of a potentially limitless number, with regular updates and new installments to come. The project welcomes contributions form interested participants with their own interesting or unusual map of Queensland: essays or topics suggestions can be submitted under the 'feedback' function on the website.
Wonderful to see the multitude of John Oxley Library images used on the site.
Comments
Your email address will not be published.
We welcome relevant, respectful comments.