The land, mapped and mastered
Colonial surveyors recorded the landscape as it would never be seen again. Their earliest plans showed waterways, forests and hills adorned with pithy assessments of their productive potential. Over these were drawn rectangular allotments and the names of gentlemen, which in turn were covered with roads and subdivisions. Before long, all but a few of the original waterways had been erased, both on the page and on the ground.
-
Brisbane Detail Plans
Detailed plans of inner Brisbane suburbs prepared by the Brisbane Water Supply and Sewage Department in the 1920s and 1930s (or even earlier in the CBD).
-
Survey Plan M.31.65
A survey plan prepared in 1862 showing land portions in Rainworth and Toowong.
-
Plan of Portions 203 to 257 in the Environs of Brisbane, Parish of Enoggera
This plan from 1859 features Western Creek, Langsville Creek and Toowong Creek, as well as the lagoon between Cribb Street and Park Road.
-
McKellar’s Map of Brisbane and Suburbs
Sheet 7 from a series of 11 sheets drawn by the government lithographer A.R. McKellar in 1895
-
Plan of allotments in the western suburbs of Brisbane
A survey plan of the Milton area by James Warner in about 1850.
-
Plan of Brisbane Waterworks
Created in 1864, this incredible plan shows the proposed water pipeline route from Enoggera Reservoir to Brisbane City.
-
Plan of the limits of the Town of Brisbane
Originally established as a penal colony in 1824, Brisbane was opened to free settlement in 1842. This plan shows the extent of what must have existed in Brisbane at around that time. In addition to the few buildings and roads marked on the map, there are also some fascinating natural features. For example, notice the…