Tag Archives: maps

Map Mania!

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In several posts and pages now I have used screenshots from Google Earth showing overlays of historical maps, such as the example below.

Red Jacket Swamp (now Gregory Park and Frew Park), as depicted in 1850.

Red Jacket Swamp (now Gregory Park and Frew Park), as depicted in 1850.

I have found this to be a very useful way to both explore and present these maps, and because Google Earth is freely available, I had also hoped that it would provide a way for me to share these maps with anyone else who wants to explore them. However, until now the files that I have created have been clumsy and unreliable, at times crashing Google Earth as soon as they are opened. The files were also large and inconvenient to download.

I have now worked out how to prepare the maps so that they open quickly and smoothly in Google Earth. In addition, I have managed to host the files remotely so that they can be accessed from anywhere without being downloaded in their entirety. Even better, Google now provides a ‘gadget’ for viewing the files within a web browser without even opening Google Earth!

So, I have re-packaged the most interesting maps in my collection and uploaded them so that you can explore them for your enjoyment. They can be accessed from a brand new Maps page in The Study section of the site, but for convenience the links are also listed here:

Preparing these maps so that they display clearly in Google Earth is a bit of a challenge, and to this end I’ve experimented with various colour schemes in addition to the bright yellow that I have used in these latest versions. This scheme is probably not perfect for all of the maps, but hopefully it is adequate for research and ‘exploration’ purposes.

I hope you enjoy exploring the maps. And most of all, I hope they work! Hosting Google Earth data in this way is new territory for me, so I won’t be surprised if some technical glitches occur. Please report any problems that you experience when using them.

And stay tuned… there may be more maps coming in the near future!

The Waters of Milton

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I’ve expressed previously my enthusiasm for old maps. The older they are, the more they tend to reveal about the original landscape.

Until recently, the oldest map that I had found of the Milton area dated back to 1859. That map (‘Plan of Portions 203 to 257 in the Environs of Brisbane, Parish of Enoggera, County of Stanley, New South Wales) covers the area between Boundary Creek (which flowed between Cribb Street and Boomerang Street) and Toowong Creek. It depicts several features I had not seen on other maps, such as Red Jacket Swamp spilling over into Frew Park (later maps just show it covering Gregory Park) and a large lagoon between Cribb Street and Park Road.

But now I have an even older one, courtesy of Magnus, who writes the blog ‘A House in Auchenflower‘. Magnus went digging in the Queensland Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying and struck gold in the form of the map you see below.

Surveyor James Warner's plan of the Milton area in 1850, held by the Queensland Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying (B1234 14).

Surveyor James Warner’s plan of the Milton area in 1850, held by the Queensland Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying (B1234 14).

This map looks old enough to have fallen off a pirate ship. The various annotations on it show that it has been used and re-used for various purposes, and at different times, but the original drawing appears to date from 1850, when the assistant surveyor-general, James Warner, surveyed the area. Warner’s description of the map appears at the bottom-right corner: Continue reading →

Exploring McKellar’s map in Google Earth

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The fun with maps continues…

As detailed in last week’s post, I have recently been experimenting with ways of importing historical maps into Google Earth, which enables them to be explored from a whole new perspective. I initially did this for three maps, dating from 1843, 1859 and 1864. Today I’ve done the same for another map — Sheet 7 from a series of maps drawn by the government lithographer A.R. McKellar in 1895. This map shows the Milton Reach of the river and the area to the west up to Mount Coot-tha. You can see what the original version of this map looks like at the Queensland Historical Atlas.

You would already be familiar with this map’s depiction of Western Creek — it is the one shown at the top of this page and all throughout this website. The picture below shows this same part of McKellar’s map in Google Earth. Dunmore Park is in the foreground, and Milton Park, Frew Park and Gregory Park can also be seen along the creek’s path.

Western Creek as depicted on McKellar's 1895 map, viewed in Google Earth.

Western Creek as depicted on McKellar’s 1895 map, viewed in Google Earth.

The image below shows the Toowong Cemetery. Beyond the cemetery, towards the upper right of the picture, is the area bounded by Boundary Road, Simpsons Road and Macgregor Terrace. This subcatchment of Western Creek is marked on McKeller’s map as the Lizzy Lee, Soudan and Rose Hill estates — names that all seem to have been lost, with the exception of Soudan Street. To the left of the cemetery, a ‘school reserve’ is marked on an area that is still bushland today.

The Toowong Cemetery as depicted on McKellar’s 1895 map. Further in the distance are the Lizzy Lee, Soudan and Rose Hill estates.

The Toowong Cemetery as depicted on McKellar’s 1895 map. Further in the distance are the Lizzy Lee, Soudan and Rose Hill estates.

McKellar’s map also depicts part of Ithaca Creek, the catchment of which neighbours the Western Creek catchment. The picture below shows two branches of Ithaca Creek meeting near Carwoola Street. In the immediate foreground, under the name ‘Glenalbro’, you can see the roof of the old Freers chip factory. At the lower-right of the picture is Purtell Park, and right on top of it is the creek as it appears in McKellar’s map. I’ve know this spot for all of my life, but I never realised until now that the path of the creek had been changed to make way for the park.

Part of Ithaca Creek as depicted on McKellar's 1895 map. At the lower-right of the picture, the old path of the creek can be seen over Purtell Park.

Part of Ithaca Creek as depicted on McKellar’s 1895 map. At the lower-right of the picture, the old path of the creek can be seen over Purtell Park.

To explore McKellar’s map for yourself, all you need to do is download either of the following files and open it in Google Earth (you will need to download and install Google Earth first if you haven’t already). The first file shows McKellar’s map features in yellow but without any shadow effect. The second file is the same, but includes the shadow effect that you can see in the images above. The first file is much smaller and will load quicker, but some features on the map will not be as easy to see without the shadow.

Have fun!

Fun with Google Earth

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A few weeks back, I posted some images that I put together by combining old maps with recent aerial photographs. Since then, I’ve discovered how to import those same maps into Google Earth. This is really exciting, because it allows you to explore these maps in an interactive way. Instead of being stuck with an orthogonal ‘straight down’ view, you can move around and view things from any angle you choose. A gallery of examples is below. In these images are three different historical maps:

  • ‘Plan of the limits of the town of Brisbane’ (1843). You can see the original in the Queensland Historical Atlas.
  • ‘Plan of Portions 203 to 257 in the Environs of Brisbane, Parish of Enoggera, County of Stanley, New South Wales’ (1859). This is available at the Queensland State Archives (Item ID620656) and the State Library (Record 727379).
  • ‘Plan of Brisbane Water Works’ (1864). This map shows the pipeline route between Enoggera Reservoir and Brisbane City, and is available from the Brisbane City Council Archives.

Boundary Creek as depicted in 1864. In the foreground is the Coronation Drive Office Park, and behind it is Suncorp Stadium.

Boundary Creek as depicted on in 1864. In the foreground is the Coronation Drive Office Park, and behind it is Suncorp Stadium.


Continue reading →

Once upon a time in the west

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The Milton area, as depicted on a map from 1859 as depicted on a map from 1859 (Queensland State Archives, Item ID620656), overlaid on Google Maps.

The Milton area, as depicted on a map from 1859 as depicted on a map from 1859 (Queensland State Archives, Item ID620656), overlaid on Google Maps.

I’ve finally finished a new page about the early estates of Milton.

This page focuses on the early land divisions in the Milton area, and the houses and farms built on them by the early landowners. It also goes back a bit further, touching on Brisbane’s beginnings as a penal settlement, and further still, revisiting John Oxley’s discovery of fresh water at Western Creek in 1824.

I’ve tried to bring the story to life with some historical photos of the Milton area from the State Library’s collection, as well as a wonderful account of the view from the River Road written by a contributor to the Moreton Bay Courier in 1859. I’ve also had some more fun with maps, combining features from a map from 1859 with modern-day aerial photos to show the early land holdings.

I intend to follow this page up with one looking at the subdivision of these early holdings into residential estates. To that end, I’ve already spent longer than I ever imagined possible reading 150-year-old real estate columns. The results, I hope, will appear in the not-too-distant future; but as usual, I would not recommend holding your breath!

Panorama from Dunmore Terrace, 1910. (State Library of Queensland, Negatives 183958, 183967 and 183958 and 183967)

Panorama from Dunmore Terrace, 1910. Chasely Street is on the right, running between the block where Chasely Apartments now stand, and the Moorlands Estate (now the Wesley Hospital) (State Library of Queensland, Negatives 183967, 183958 and 183970)