Mapping a new colony: the geographical construction of Queensland 1860-1880.

Queensland formally separated from New South Wales in December 1859. The new colonial government had jurisdiction over approximately 1.72 million square kilometres, or 22.5 per cent of the Australian landmass. Official responsibility for producing maps of the new colony (except hydrographic charts) between 1860 and 1880 rested with the Survey Branch of the Queensland Department of Lands. Other motivated individuals and firms, mostly surveyors, book publishers and specialist map and atlas publishers, also produced maps of the new colony.

The first part of this paper will examine who produced maps during this period under review. This discussion will outline some of the challenges faced by those making maps in an era when lithographers still used limestone stones. The subjects mapped and the types of maps produced in Queensland between 1860 and 1880 will be considered in the second part of the paper. Despite enormous difficulties, including a lack of equipment and limited numbers of lithographers and surveyors, a wide array of maps was produced in Queensland between 1860 and 1880. Subjects mapped included the entire colony, major towns, railway routes, electoral and pastoral districts and the evolving cadastre.

INTRODUCTION

In 1862, the second edition of a book titled Queensland and Enterprise, the Field for British Labour and the Source of England's Cotton Supply (with Map) was published by G. Street of the Colonial Newspaper Offices, London. In an introductory note, George Wight, the book's author, drew the reader's attention to the inclusion by the publisher of what he described as an "excellent map, which should be freely used", because little was known about Queensland, and "that little not always in the most accurate form". (1) The publisher's good intentions were somewhat negated, however, as the map was hopelessly out of date. Unfortunately, maps depicting the true extent of settlement in Queensland were rare in the 1860s and 1870s, as lithographers and publishers grappled to keep up-to-date with the rapid changes occurring in the new colony.

Queensland had formally separated from New South Wales in December 1859. The new colonial government had jurisdiction over approximately 1.72 million square kilometres, or 22.5 per cent of the Australian landmass. For the new parliamentarians and civil servants, governing this area must have been a daunting task, as Queensland is approximately the same size as the combined areas of France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. Moreover, at the time of separation, very little of the colony had been carefully surveyed or mapped by Europeans; parts of its northern extremities had not even been explored by Europeans.

Numerous accounts exist about different aspects of the history of the new colony during the first two decades after separation from New South Wales. Favourite topics investigated have been early land legislation, settlement in southern Queensland and the spread of pastoralism. (2) Scholars, however, have not examined map production in the new colony. Hence, the aim of this paper is to fill this gap in the scholarly literature on Queensland's early history by examining the process by which new, terrestrial space was mapped by Europeans between 1860 and 1880. The mapping of Queensland's coast and maritime regions is outside the scope of this account.

The first part of this paper will examine who produced maps during this period under review. This discussion will outline some of the challenges faced by those making maps of the new colony in an era when lithographers still used limestone stones. The subjects mapped and types of maps produced in Queensland between 1860 and 1880 will be considered in the second part of the paper. Despite enormous difficulties, including a lack of equipment and limited numbers of lithographers and surveyors, a wide array of maps was produced in Queensland between 1860 and 1880. Subjects mapped included the entire colony, major towns, railway routes, electoral and pastoral districts and the evolving cadastre.

Historical sources to reconstruct the mapping of Queensland during the first two decades after separation from New South Wales have been found at a number of institutions. The extensive map collection held by the Queensland State Archives (Brisbane) has formed the basis of the discussion in this account. Despite its breadth, I have reached the conclusion that not all the maps produced by the Queensland authorities engaged in map making in the early 1860s are found in this collection. I suspect some of the very earliest administrative and cadastral maps of Queensland have not survived the passage of time. Smaller collections of Queensland maps at the John Oxley and Fryer Libraries (both Brisbane), the State Library of New South Wales (Sydney) and the National Library of Australia (Canberra) have also yielded valuable information. Interpreting the policy decisions and priorities that led to the production of certain mapping products, however, has been hindered by the lack of official documentation. The Queensland Surveyor-General's reports are very scant in detail about mapping activities throughout the new colony. Moreover, the Queensland Surveyor-General appears to have produced no annual reports from 1871 to 1874.

ORGANISATIONS, PERSONALITIES AND CHALLENGES

Responsibility for producing non-maritime maps of the new colony between 1860 and 1880 rested with the Survey Branch of the Queensland Department of Public Lands. Staffed with draughtsmen and surveyors, the Survey Branch was headed by the Surveyor- General. Initially, the famous Australian explorer, Augustus Charles Gregory, who proved to be a better surveyor than administrator, fulfilled this role between 1859 and 1875. His rival, the surveyor William Alcock Tully, became Under-Secretary of the Department in August 1866, and slowly limited Gregory's influence. Increasingly, Gregory was blamed for the defects in lands administration and the apparent lack of mapping in the new colony. In 1875, Tully replaced him as Surveyor-General, while retaining his position as Under-Secretary of the Public Lands Department. (3)

Surveyor-General Gregory and his successor faced enormous challenges in producing maps of the new colony. Government priorities, ever changing due to a succession of short-lived colonial governments in Queensland during the 1860s, dictated the types of maps to be produced. The initial emphasis was on generating cadastral maps so that prospective pastoralists and agriculturalists could determine which land had been selected or was still available for occupation. Such mapping, however, had to occur against a backdrop of rapidly expanding settlement and infrequent communications about local changes from the Land Commissioners and field surveyors. (4) Gregory acknowledged such difficulties in his annual report for 1866 when he noted that:

   ... subsequent to the delay in the publication
   of district maps, it may be observed that if a
   map were completed and a large edition
   printed they would in a few months become
   comparatively useless, as they would not
   show the subsequent surveys. (5)

Initially, Gregory had a pitifully small staff to undertake the mapping tasks demanded of him by the colonial government (Table 1). Kay Cohen has argued that " there were never enough surveyors to keep pace with demands for access to lands and the surveys needed before title deeds could be issued". (6) Initially there were also no lithographers and only five draughtsmen attached to the Survey Branch. This deficiency was alleviated somewhat in 1866 following the employment of a lithographer and lithographic printers in the newly-created Government Engraving and Lithographic Branch in the Government Printing Office. Nevertheless, in 1880, the number of skilled staff assigned to producing maps and survey plans was very small, given the demands for maps and survey plans showing all features of settlement in the new colony (Table 1).

Access to printing equipment also proved a challenge during this period under review. Initially, Gregory had acquired lithographic printing presses for the Survey Branch. In his annual report for 1866 he mentioned that the printing of lithographic maps had made "considerable progress" in the early part of the year. However, the government ordered the transfer of the printing presses to the Government Printing Office after the creation of the Government Engraving and Lithographic Branch in mid-1866. Gregory complained to the Secretary for Public Lands that the transfer of the lithographic presses would "retard the production of maps", but the Government refused to reverse its decision. By the end of 1866, Gregory reported that operations of the Survey Branch had been restricted to preparing "diagrams of lands offered for sale." (7) A decade passed before the Survey Branch again had access to its own printing presses. Surveyor-General Tully reported in his annual report for 1876 that a photolithographic apparatus had been procured and by this apparatus the Survey Branch hoped "to prepare a large number of maps cheaply and expeditiously." (8)

A handful of other individuals and organisations, both local and international, produced or commissioned maps showing aspects of the new colony in the first two decades after separation from New South Wales. They fall into three broad categories: surveyors; book or almanac publishers; and specialist map or atlas publishers. Surveyors included the Rockhampton-based Leopold Landsberg and the Sydney-based firm F. Reuss and J.L. Browne (Table 2). Both operated in the very early 1860s, but this profession ceased to independently publish maps of Queensland after 1865. The second category is represented locally by the Brisbane-based J.W. Buxton and Theophilus Pugh, and further afield by Jacob Richard Clarke, who was situated in Sydney. Edward Stanford of London, who specialised in distributing ordnance maps, geological survey maps, admiralty charts and atlases, and the Scottish cartographic firm founded by John Bartholomew represented the third group. (9)

Most lithography for these earliest maps of Queensland published privately in the 1860s was undertaken by two of Australia's more noted lithographers--Johann Degotardi and Thomas Ham. The German-speaking Degotardi had immigrated to New South Wales in 1853, establishing himself as a printer and lithographer, mainly by designing covers for musical scores. His maps were only a small portion of his voluminous output, yet they are fine specimens of the map-maker's art. (10) Thomas Ham had earned his reputation in Melbourne during the 1850s when he had lithographed stamps, currency and maps for the Victorian government. In 1860, on account of ill-health, he moved to the warmer climate of Brisbane. Together with his brother-in-law, William Knight, Ham formed the engraving, printing and lithographic firm Thomas Ham & Co. Ham joined the Engraving and Lithographic Branch of the Queensland Government Printing Office in September 1866 as its Chief Engraver, carrying on his work for the Queensland government until his death in 1870. (11) Ham was held in high regard by those who used his services, with the journalist and parliamentarian Theophilus Pugh claiming:

Mr Ham had a wonderful facility in availing himself of information and improving maps marking down topographical characteristics, direction and height of ranges, the course of streams--of which very few engravers could boast. (12)

MAPS AND ATLASES OF QUEENSLAND

During the 1850s, a few maps had been produced of the northern parts of New South Wales that were to become part of Queensland after 1860. A map of the Darling Downs squatting district was issued in 1854, while the Port Curtis district, around Gladstone, was mapped in 1855 and again in 1859. Such interest in the Port Curtis district had occurred because the New South Wales politicians hoped that the capital of the new colony would be much further northward than Brisbane. They argued that the recently established town of Gladstone should be the capital. (13)

Exploration of the northern parts of what was to become the new colony of Queensland had occurred during the late 1850s. Pastoralists had occupied some of this country and were pushing the boundaries of settlement ever northward. These latest discoveries and the spread of pastoral occupation were encapsulated in three maps published by the surveyor Leopold Landsberg in 1860. (14) Landsberg's motivation for publishing these maps is unclear, although he may have been trying to impress Gregory, who as Surveyor-General, would have been in the position to provide him with surveying work as settlement expanded northwards. One of Landsberg's maps covered part of Queensland from its new southern border, northwards to Shoalwater Bay and inland as far as the 148[degrees] E meridian. This map principally showed relief, drainage, features and some of the main pastoral stations and is extraordinary because of the large amount of hachuring and shading used to depict the terrain found in the known-parts of the new colony (Figure 1). This map was revised and re-issued in July 1860, and covered territory as far northwards as Cape Palmerston (just south of Mackay).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

An unidentified journalist writing for the Moreton Bay Courier was not impressed with the first edition of this map, noting that it "was very far from being accurate or complete," but expressed more praise with the revised version, observing that it had a "better claim to public patronage, and for which the compiler deserves the thanks of the colonists" and that the map was "both useful and instructive". (15) The third map covered the new pastoral district of Kennedy and again hachuring was used widely to show relief.

While Landsberg sought to map new discoveries, the Sydney bookseller Jacob Richard Clarke (1822-1893) published a map in 1860 showing the towns, pastoral stations and roads in southern Queensland. It was very much a compilation of known information. A similar map was compiled, drawn and published in 1862 by Sydney-based surveyors and architects F. Reuss and J. L. Browne. Colour was used in this map to show the known pastoral districts in Queensland. The National Library of Australia's copy of this map was probably produced for prospective settlers who were riding throughout the country covered by this map, for it folds up into smaller sections mounted on linen, and is encased in a leather cover. Both these maps are part of a transitional phase when southern Queensland slowly stops being shown as part of New South Wales and becomes part of the larger entity that we know as Queensland.

During the first five years of Queensland's existence, several books about the new colony were published and each contained a map. The map of Queensland included with George Wight's book was mentioned in the introduction. His contemporary the Revd. J.D. Lang also published a book extolling the virtues of Queensland as a highly eligible place for emigration. However, the book contained a very incomplete, but coloured map of the new colony drawn by Edward Stanford (see Figure 2). Lang sought to use his map to entice settlers to Queensland, for he claimed it showed "that the whole extent of the country between the coast range and the ocean, is covered with a complete network of streams of water." (16) Careful examination of this map, however, reveals very few coastal or inland rivers, so I am not sure what readers would have made of his assertion. Moreover, the map contains some inaccuracies and omissions. One such mistake is the location of the mouth of the Burdekin River. Instead of entering the ocean in Upstart Bay only, this Stanford map has the Burdekin entering the sea in Cleveland, Bowling Green and Upstart Bays.

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

Other book publishers and specialist atlas and map producers also issued maps of the entire colony of Queensland during the early 1860s, although these maps did not appear as part of any other publication. James Wyld, a London-based map and atlas publisher and the "geographer to Queen Victoria and H.R.H. Prince Albert", produced a map of Queensland in 1861. Wyld's map is a pioneer in two features: first, it shows the routes of the explorers who had traversed the colony before 1860; and second, the boundaries of the counties in southern Queensland are shown using pink and red. Wyld's map was probably not used by the English lithographer and map producer Edward Weller, who issued a map titled the 'Province of Queensland', probably in 1862. Instead, Weller's map looked very much like an updated version of Stanford's 1861 map of the colony, although the amount of relief shown in southern Queensland suggested he had access to Landsberg's maps. Weller's map of Queensland (like his other maps) appeared as a supplement in the London newspaper The Weekly Dispatch and was republished in 1863 as part of the Weekly Dispatch Atlas. (17) The last of these very early overseas-produced maps of the colony was probably issued by the famous cartographer John Bartholomew, Junior (1831-1893) in 1866, although there is some doubt about the date of this map of Queensland. Bartholomew's first attempt at a map of Queensland displayed no unique touches, except perhaps the use of colour to show the extent of each of the pastoral districts within the colony. (18)

Unlike the maps produced by overseas publishers, the locally-produced maps in the early 1860s were more accurate and elaborate. The first to depict the new colony was Theophilus Pugh, a journalist, former editor of the Moreton Bay Courier, book publisher and later a parliamentarian. He commissioned a black and white map showing the extent of settlement in Queensland and it first appeared in the 1862 edition of his annual Pugh's Almanac. Pugh argued that this map would be a "great advantage to the public", so he availed himself of the local talents of Thomas Ham & Co. This map is unique, having been the first map in the colony to be engraved, printed and coloured by the process of chromo-lithography. Moreover, it was very up-to-date, being compiled from the most recent surveys and land commissioners' maps obtained from Gregory (Figure 3). It is the first map that I can ascertain showing the mouth of the Burdekin River correctly (entering Upstart Bay) and the new settlement of Port Denison (now Bowen). The map also showed all the counties in Queensland, the routes of the electric telegraph lines and the boundaries of the squatting districts. (19)

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

Pugh intended to issue this map year by year as part of his almanac. The map was to be updated annually so that "after a series of years, the successive copies issued will in themselves form an interesting index of the progress of Queensland exploration and settlement." Pugh asked squatters and explorers to furnish him with updated information, so this map could be revised annually. (20) The map, however, was published for only two years (1862-63). Pugh claimed in 1864 that it was necessary to omit the map to lessen the bulk of the almanac and that the work had "never yet repaid him for the labour and expense bestowed upon it." (21)

Pugh was unique amongst publishers of early Queensland almanacs, for he was the only proprietor to commission a map to feature in his publication. Yet he was not entirely alone in his endeavours for the Brisbane-based book publisher and stationer, J.W. Buxton, published what was described as a "New Map" of Queensland in 1863. Thomas Ham & Co. again did the lithography and it looks remarkably like the Pugh map, except it now showed all of Queensland and had written across Cape York Peninsula the words "proposed new settlement." In the following year, Buxton published an updated squatting map of the Darling Downs. This map showed the approximate location of the boundary of runs, pre-emptive purchases and townships. (22) The final map published by Buxton was issued in 1866 and showed the route of the Jardine Brothers.

Unlike local and international publishers, the Survey Branch was pre-occupied initially with administrative mapping. Between 1860 and 1862, the Survey Branch issued eight cadastral maps, each at various scales and each showing the location of a different agricultural reserve established in southern Queensland. (23) In 1863, the first comprehensive Queensland-produced cadastral maps of the Darling Downs District became available. The Survey Branch opted for a large-scale representation using a scale of one inch to one mile (1:63 360) and as such needed twenty-three sheets to cover the region. These maps are attributable to Frank Gregory, Surveyor-General Augustus Gregory's brother who held the role of Land Commissioner for the Darling Downs. Mapping of the Moreton District (surrounding Brisbane) was also commenced in 1863, following the release of maps with the scale of one inch to twenty chains (1:15 840). Only two surviving copies from this series are extant at Queensland State Archives. Maybe only two were ever completed, but the numbering on one suggests that at least fourteen maps were intended and needed to cover the region at the scale used.

This early administrative mapping culminated with the publication of the first Atlas of the Colony of Queensland in 1865. The atlas contained fourteen maps commencing with a general map showing the location of the new colony in relation to the other Australasian colonies, as well as India and China. The second map encompassed the entire colony and the boundaries of its pastoral districts. This map is the first full map of Queensland that I could locate produced by the new colonial government. The remaining maps covered the various electoral districts of Queensland and showed the location of agricultural reserves, towns, roads and some topographic features. Colour was used to highlight features and hachuring employed to represent relief. Thomas Ham & Co undertook the lithography. (24)

The 1865 map of the entire colony of Queensland that appeared in the above Atlas was updated and re-issued by the Survey Branch in 1868 and 1871. This re-issued map, however, is interesting on two accounts. First, its compiler was Thomas Ham, but his brother-in-law William Knight undertook the final engraving following Ham's death. Second, it is a much larger and more elaborate map, containing in the right-hand corner two vertical cross-sections of elevations from the Albert River, flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, to the Dawson River in Port Curtis District. The presence of these cross sections from the track of the North Australian Expedition undertaken by A.C. Gregory in 1855-6 must surely have come about due to Gregory's instructions, or were an attempt by Ham to honour his superior. Such vanity by Gregory, if he was responsible for the presence of the cross-sections, is the only time that I could find reference to his past achievements on any of the early colonial maps of Queensland. (25)

Some time in the late 1860s, a decision must have been made to standardise cadastral mapping in Queensland. It is not possible to be more precise, as the surviving historical records are silent on when the Survey Branch decided to produce its cadastral map series with the scale of one inch to two miles (1:126 720). The maps making up this series showed the following features: parish names and boundaries; names of leased pastoral runs; town names; major physical features such as rivers, creeks, swamps and hills; railways; and the blocks of land that had been alienated from the Crown.

The first one inch to two mile maps were issued in 1868 and covered the Moreton District. By 1880, approximately one quarter of the colony and most of the more closely settled districts, except around Cairns and Cooktown, was covered by this series (Figure 4). Some of these maps covering the Kennedy, Port Curtis and Burnett Districts had been issued only once by 1880. Others like Sheet 4B of the Moreton District or Sheet 3 of the Darling Downs District had been revised in the early 1870s and re-issued. These maps were in great demand and printed repeatedly, leading Surveyor-General Tully to report in 1875 that the Survey Branch had to "prepare fresh stones for nearly all the two-mile maps, as the old ones are worn out." (26)

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

A wide array of other government-sponsored maps was produced during the period under review. A map showing the routes of the newly-erected electric telegraph lines from Brisbane to different parts of Queensland was issued in 1867. As the lines spread to new centres, this map was updated and re-issued in 1871 and 1878. The location of the colony's first railways had been shown in an 1877 map titled 'Railway Routes and Proposed Railway Routes'. Maps showing the colony's electoral boundaries and census boundaries had also been published to coincide with the various elections and censuses held during the 1860s and 1870s. (27) Ten towns had been mapped by 1880, with the earliest maps of Ipswich, Mackay, Maryborough and Gympie having been revised and re-issued in the 1870s. (28)

Booksellers continued to commission and publish maps of Queensland during the 1870s (see Table 3). Edward Stanford's 1861 map of Queensland (published as part of Lang's book on Queensland) was updated and re-issued as a separate map in 1870. Using colour shading to depict the location of agricultural districts and goldfields, the map claimed the 'Plains of Promise' in the Gulf of Carpentaria to be an agricultural region, although arable cropping has never been trialed in this region. (29) In the same year, H. G. De Gruchy of Melbourne published a 'New Map of Queensland', claiming it had been compiled from the "most authentic sources". (30) This black and white map, however, bears a remarkable similarity to Landsberg's 1860 map of Queensland. Two years later in 1872, George Slater & Co. of Brisbane began issuing black and white maps of the entire colony of Queensland. These maps accompanied their annual Slater's Queensland Almanac and looked very similar to Pugh's map of Queensland, although George Slater & Co.'s 1874 map of Queensland was particularly accurate. Based upon the "latest official government surveys", the map contained the routes of William Hann's 1872 expedition to the Normanby sub-region of eastern Cape York and George Dalrymple's 1874 expedition along the coast of Queensland between Cardwell and Cooktown. (31) The Sydney firm Gibbs, Shallard & Co. published in 1874 an updated version of the Slater's 1872 edition of this map, although the addition of colour to show the boundaries of the pastoral districts tried to make it a more appealing product. In the mid-1870s, the Brisbane firm Thorne & Greenwell, who had taken over publishing Pugh's Almanac, also published black and white maps of the entire colony of Queensland, although not surprisingly they looked very much like updated versions of Pugh's map of the colony.

In contrast, John Bartholomew produced an exquisite map of the new colony, with different colours showing the outline of the counties in southern Queensland. Slightly bigger than an A4 size, the map first appeared in 1871 as the fifth map in Bartholomew's Imperial Atlas for Australia and New Zealand. Bartholomew used this map again, not updated, in his 1876 publication The Portable Atlas of Australia and New Zealand. In addition, the compilers of the Australian Handbook--an annual almanac providing information on the main towns and cities in each Australian colony--selected the Bartholomew map to accompany the section on Queensland in 1876 and 1878. The 1878 map, however, had been updated to show new settlement features such as the Cloncurry and Hodgkinson goldfields and the northern town of Cairns. Bartholomew's 1878 map of Queensland was released as a stand-alone map of the colony in 1880. (32)

As the 1870s drew to a close, the colony's second atlas was published in 1878. The Brisbane-based firm, F.E. Hiscocks & Co. were the compilers of this publication, not the Survey Branch. The atlas maps were based upon the "very latest plans in the Lands Department", and consisted of a map of Brisbane, fourteen pastoral district maps showing major features such as railways, roads, mail routes and main rivers, and a full map of Queensland. The compilers claimed incorrectly that the atlas was the "first of the kind ever produced in the colony". They either forgot or chose to ignore the Survey Branch's efforts a decade earlier. The atlas, claimed the compilers, aimed to be:

   ... eminently useful to the merchant and
   squatter as a work of reference, and with the
   schoolmaster and man of family as the best
   means extant of furnishing the rising
   generation of the Colony with a thorough
   geographical knowledge of Queensland. (33)

Unfortunately, I could find no response in the local press or almanacs to this Atlas, so we may never know how useful settlers found the publication.

CONCLUSION

The central argument in this paper has been that despite the challenges faced by those making maps in an era when lithographers still used limestone stones, a wide array of maps was produced in Queensland between 1860 and 1880. Subjects mapped included the entire colony, major towns, railway routes, electoral and pastoral districts and the evolving cadastre. Two atlases of the new colony were even issued, a feat never repeated. Moreover, after the issue of the 1878 Atlas of Queensland, almost a hundred years passed before another atlas of the state was produced. (34)

The types of maps produced fall into two broad categories. Maps of the entire colony were mainly issued by booksellers (e.g. Theophilus Pugh; J.W. Buxton; George Slater & Co.) and specialist map and atlas producers (e.g. Edward Stanford; John Bartholomew). Many of these maps look remarkably similar, except for the addition of new settlement features, and trace their lineage to two maps: Leopold Landsberg's 1860 map of Queensland from Brisbane to Cape Palmerston or Thomas Ham's 1862 map of Queensland produced for Theophilus Pugh. In contrast, the Survey Branch of the Queensland Department of Public Land, focussed upon producing its one inch to two miles cadastral series. This mapping occurred because of the requirement to keep track of which land had been alienated, due to the government's emphasis on promoting closer settlement in the new colony. Neither the government nor bookseller or specialist map and atlas producers, however, issued any topographic maps or thematic maps showing soil-types, vegetation or climate of the new colony. Settlers in some instances had to wait for almost fifty years before these types of maps were produced.

Finally, A.C. Gregory controlled mapping in Queensland during much of this period under review. By the mid-1870s, Gregory was being criticised for defects in lands administration and apparent lack of mapping in the colony. (35) The claim about defects in his handling of the administration of land alienation in the colony may be warranted. However, under Gregory's control, the mapping output by the Survey Branch of the Queensland Department of Public Lands in the 1860s and early 1870s was phenomenal, given the constraints and challenges faced by those doing the mapping and the sheer size of the new colony. Hopefully, this account has highlighted that claims about lack of mapping in Queensland during the first two decades after separation from New South Wales are no more than mischievous rumours put about by Gregory's enemies. Mapping of the new colony, except for topographic and environmental conditions, was well under way by 1880.

Table 1. Staff numbers in the Survey Branch of the Queensland
Department of Public Lands and Government Engraving and
Lithographic Office, 1860-1880. Source: Assembled from staff lists in
Statistics of the Colony of Queensland, 1860 & Queensland Blue Books,
various years.

Class of employee             1860   1865   1870   1875   1880

Draughtsmen                    1       5      6     10     17
Lithographers                  0       0      1      2      1
Photo-lithographic operator    0       0      0      0      1
Lithographic printers          0       1      4      4      5
Surveyors                      6      10      7     14     10
Clerical staff                 0       4      5      4      4
TOTAL                          7      20     23     34     38

Table 2. Compilers and lithographers of maps of Queensland produced
between 1860 and 1869. Source: Based upon map holdings at Queensland
State Archives, Brisbane, National Library of Australia, Canberra
and Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

                                          Map title and year
Compiler            Background            of publication

Leopold Landsberg   Surveyor              1. Queensland from Brisbane
                                             to Shoalwater Bay (1860)
                                          2. Queensland from Brisbane
                                             to Cape Palmerston (1860)
                                          3. Pastoral District of
                                             Kennedy (1860)

Theophilus Pugh     Journalist            1. Queensland (1862)

J.W.Buxton          Brisbane bookseller   1. Brisbane (1863)
                                          2. Queensland (1863)
                                          3. Location of Darling Downs
                                             pastoral properties (1864)
                                          4. Route of the Jardine
                                             Bros.' expedition (1866)

Jacob Richard       Sydney bookseller     1. Colonies of New South
Clarke                                       Wales & Queensland (1860)

F. Reuss & J. L.    Sydney surveyors      1. New South Wales and
Browne              & architects             southern Queensland (1862)

Edward Stanford     London bookseller     1. The Province of Queensland
                    & map distributor        (1861)

James Wyld          Geographer to         1. The Province of
                    Queen Victoria;          Queensland (1861)
                    London-based atlas
                    and map-publishers

John Bartholomew    Edinburgh map and     1. Queensland (c. 1866)
& Co.               atlas publishers

Edward Weller       London map            1. Queensland (1863)
                    publisher

Compiler            Lithographer

Leopold Landsberg   Johann Degotardi,
                    Sydney, completed
                    the lithography for all
                    three maps.

Theophilus Pugh     Thomas Ham & Co.,
                    Brisbane

J.W.Buxton          Thomas Ham & Co.,
                    Brisbane

Jacob Richard       Not given
Clarke

F. Reuss & J. L.    Johann Degotardi,
Browne              Sydney

Edward Stanford     Not given

James Wyld          Not given

John Bartholomew    Not given
& Co.

Edward Weller       Edward Weller

Table 3. Compilers and lithographers of maps of Queensland produced
between 1870 and 1880. Source: Based upon map holdings at Queensland
State Archives, Brisbane, National Library of Australia, Canberra
and Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Compiler              Background

Edward Stanford       London bookseller and
                      map distributor

H.G. De Gruchy        Proprietors of the
                      Colonial Map Depot,
                      Melbourne

John Bartholomew      Edinburgh map and atlas
& Co.                 publishers

George Slater & Co.   Brisbane booksellers,
                      printers and lithographers

Gibbs, Shallard       Sydney bookseller
& Co.

Thorne & Greenwell    Brisbane printers and
                      publishers

Compiler              Map title (year of     Lithographer
                      publication)

Edward Stanford       1. Queensland (1870)   Not given

H.G. De Gruchy        1. The New Map of      Not given, probably
                      Queensland (1870)      the firm.

John Bartholomew      1. Queensland (1871)   Not given; probably
& Co.                 2. Queensland (1880)   the firm.

George Slater & Co.   1. Queensland (1874)   Not given, probably
                                             the firm

Gibbs, Shallard       1. Queensland (1874)   Not given
& Co.

Thorne & Greenwell    1. Queensland (1875)   Not given, probably
                                             the firm.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The assistance of the staff at the Queensland State Archives, Fryer and John Oxley libraries and the National Library of Australia was greatly appreciated. My thanks to Ms Adella Edwards, cartographer, for drawing one of the maps that accompany this article. Mr Bill Kitson, Senior Curator of the Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Brisbane, assisted by providing biographical details about Leopold Landsberg. Ms Judy Scurfield, Map Librarian, State Library of Victoria, very kindly supplied biographical information about the British cartographers who produced maps of Queensland.

ENDNOTES

(1) George Wight, Queensland, the Field for British Labour and Enterprise and the Source of England's Cotton Supply. 2nd edition (London: G. Street, Colonial Newspaper Offices, 1862), p. 1.

(2) For some examples of such studies see Anne Allingham, 'Taming the Wilderness': The First Decade of Pastoral Settlement in the Kennedy District (Townsville: History Department, James Cook University of North Queensland, 1977); Beverley Kingston, 'The Origin of Queensland's "Comprehensive" Land Policy', Queensland Heritage, Vol. 1, no. 2 (May 1965), pp. 3-9; Beverley Kingston, 'The Search for an Alternative to Free Selection in Queensland, 1859-1866', Queensland Heritage, Vol. 1, no. 5 (November 1966), pp. 3-9; Duncan Waterson, Squatter, Selector 

and Storekeeper: A History of the Darling Downs (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1968); and Maurice French, A Pastoral Romance. The Tribulation and Triumph of Squatterdom. A History of the Darling Downs Frontier, Vol. 2 (Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland Press, 1990).

(3) For an analysis of this rivalry see Wendy Birman, Gregory of Rainworth. A Man in his Time (Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1979), pp. 226-227.

(4) A good account of these difficulties is found in Jean Farnfield, Frontiersmen. A Biography of George Elphinstone Dalrymple (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 46-48.

(5) A.C. Gregory, 'Surveyor-General's Annual Report for 1866', Queensland Votes and Proceedings (hereafter QVP), Vol. 2 (1867), p. 785.

(6) Kay Cohen, 'Land Administration 1859-1910', in Kay Cohen and Kenneth Wiltshire (eds), People, Places and Policies. Aspects of Queensland Government Administration, 1859- 1920 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1995), p. 136.

(7) A.C. Gregory to Secretary for Public Lands, 20 October 1866, Attached to In-letter 3988 of 1866, SUR/A31, QSA; A.C. Gregory, 'Surveyor-General's Annual Report for 1866', QVP, Vol. 2 (1867), p. 785.

(8) W. A. Tully, 'Annual Report of Queensland's Department of Public Lands, 1876', QVP, Vol. 3 (1877), p. 93.

(9) For biographical details about Jacob Richard Clarke see his biographical file in the National Library of Australia (hereafter NLA); details about Edward Stanford determined from an advertisement on the last page of the following book: J.D. Lang, Queensland Australia; A Highly Eligible Field for Emigration and the Future Cotton-Field of Great Britain (London: Edward Stanford, 1861).

(10) John Fletcher, John Degotardi: Printer, Publisher and Photographer. Studies in Australian Bibliography. No. 25 (Sydney: Book Collectors' Society of Australia, 1984), pp. 24 & 112-113.

(11) J.W. Collings, Thomas Ham. Pioneer Engraver and Publisher (Melbourne: J.W. Collings, 1943), p. 15; Ian McLaren, 'Ham, Thomas (1821-1870),' Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 4 (1972), pp. 328-329; QVP, Vol. 1 (1868), p. 45 (date of Ham's appointment to Lithographic Branch).

(12) Queensland Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 6 (1867-68), p. 901.

(13) P.C. 2, 1855: Survey Plan of the Counties in the neighbourhood of Port Curtis, 1855, Queensland State Archives (hereafter QSA); Sketch of the district of Port Curtis, 1859, in New South Wales Votes and Proceedings, Vol. 4 (1859-1860), p. 984; DD 16, Map of Darling Downs squatting district and proposed reserve, 1854, QSA; Ross Fitzgerald, From the Dreaming to 1915. A History of Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1982), p. 109.

(14) Leopold Landsberg, Map of the Colony of Queensland from Brisbane to Broadsound/Shoalwater Bay, 1860 (located at Fryer Library, University of Queensland; hereafter FL, UQ); Leopold Landsberg, Map of the Colony of Queensland from Brisbane to Cape Palmerston, 1860 (located at John Oxley Library); Leopold Landsberg, Map of Queensland, Northern Portion, District of Kennedy, 1860 (located at FL, UQ).

(15) Moreton Bay Courier, 14 July 1860, p. 2.

(16) J.D. Lang, Queensland, Australia. A Highly Eligible Field for Emigration and the Future Cotton-Field of Great Britain (London: Edward Stanford, 1861), p. 5.

(17) Details based upon James Wyld, 'Map of the Province of Queensland, 1861' and Edward Weller, 'Map of the Colony of Queensland, 1863,' (both NLA); for biographical details about these map-makers see James Howgego, Printed Maps of London, c. 1553-1850. 2nd edition (Folkstone, England: Dawson, 1978), p. 25 & R.V. Tooley, Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Meridian Publishing, c. 1979), p. 677.

(18) The John Bartholomew 'Map of Queensland' at the NLA is dated c. 1866 (NL, RM 1740). I cannot be certain of its date, other than to note that the map must have been produced after 1864, for it shows the Cook Pastoral district which was gazetted in 1864.

(19) Pugh's Almanac, 1862, un-numbered page headed 'Map of Queensland'; Map of portion of Queensland, north to Rockingham Bay, 1862, SRS 2185/1, Item 1, QSA.

(20) Pugh's Almanac, 1863; un-numbered page headed 'The Map of Queensland'.

(21) Pugh's Almanac, 1864; un-numbered page at the beginning of the almanac; no heading.

(22) Buxton's Map of Queensland, 1863 (FL, UQ); Buxton's Squatting Map of the Darling Downs, 1864 (FL, UQ).

(23) For examples see the following maps: A 1860: Map of Moreton District Queensland, showing Logan Agricultural Reserve; 1/4 B 1/20 1862: Map of Toowoomba Agricultural Reserve; and 1/4 A1/32 1861: Map of Redcliffe Agricultural Reserve (all QSA).

(24) Based upon the copy held by John Oxley Library; another copy is located at the NLA.

(25) For copies of these maps see Map F 498: 'Colony of Queensland', 1868, NLA and 'Map of Queensland', 1871, SRS, 1918/1, item 5, QSA.

(26) W. A. Tully, 'Annual Report of the Under-Secretary for Lands, 1875,' QVP, Vol. 3 (1876), p. 189.

(27) For examples of these maps see 'Map showing lines of Electric Telegraph in the Colony of Queensland, 1867', SRS 1937/1, QSA; 'Map Showing Lines of Electric Telegraph in the Colony of Queensland, Australia, 1871,' in QVP, Vol. 2 (1871), p. 966; & 'Map of Railway Routes and Proposed New Railway Routes in Queensland,' in QVP, Vol. 2 (1878), p. 502.

(28) For examples of such town maps see 'Map of Town of Maryborough, 1862', D8/16 Sheets 1 & 2, QSA & 'Map of Town of Maryborough, 1876,' D8/16, QSA.

(29) Edward Stanford's Map of the Province of Queensland, 1870 (FL, UQ).

(30) For details see De Gruchy's 'New Map of Queensland, 1870,' SRS 1922/1 Item 1, QSA.

(31) George Slater & Company's Map of Queensland, 1874 (located at John Oxley Library).

(32) John Bartholomew, The Imperial Atlas for Australia and New Zealand (Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co., 1871); John Bartholomew, The Portable Atlas of Australia and New Zealand (Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co., 1876); John Bartholomew, 'Map of Queensland, 1880' (Edinburgh: W & R. Chambers, 1880) (RBM 840 08890e, John Oxley Library).

(33) F.E. Hiscocks & Co., The New District and County Atlas of Queensland (Brisbane: Watson and Ferguson, 1878), p. 1.

(34) Queensland Department of Mapping & Surveying, Queensland Resources Atlas (Brisbane: Premier's Department, 1980).

(35) For an analysis of Gregory's tenure as Surveyor- General see Kay Cohen, 'Land Administration 1859-1910,' in Kay Cohen and Kenneth Wiltshire (eds), People, Places and Policies. Aspects of Queensland Government Administration, 1859-1920 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1995), p. 136; and Duncan Waterson, Squatter, Selector and Storekeeper. A History of the Darling Downs, 1859-1893 (Brisbane: Sydney University Press, 1968, pp. 37-38.

REFERENCES

Allingham, Anne (1977), 'Taming the Wilderness': The First Decade of Pastoral Settlement in the Kennedy District (Townsville: History Department, James Cook University of North Queensland).

Birman, Wendy (1979), Gregory of Rainworth. A Man in his Time (Perth: University of Western Australia Press).

Bartholomew, John (1871), The Imperial Atlas for Australia and New Zealand (Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co).

Bartholomew, John (1876), The Portable Atlas of Australia and New Zealand (Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co).

Cohen, Kay (1995), 'Land Administration 1859-1910', in Cohen, K. and Wiltshire, K. (eds), People, Places and Policies. Aspects of Queensland Government Administration, 1859-1920 (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press).

Collings, John W. (1943), Thomas Ham. Pioneer Engraver and Publisher (Melbourne: J.W. Collings).

Farnfield, Jean (1968), Frontiersmen. A Biography of George Elphinstone Dalrymple (Melbourne: Oxford University Press).

Fitzgerald, Ross (1982), From the Dreaming to 1915. A History of Queensland (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press).

Fletcher, John (1984), John Degotardi: Printer, Publisher and Photographer. Studies in Australian Bibliography. No. 25 (Sydney: Book Collectors' Society of Australia).

French, Maurice (1990), A Pastoral Romance. The Tribulation and Triumph of Squatterdom. A History of the Darling Downs Frontier, Vol. 2 (Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland Press).

Hiscocks, F.E. & Co. (1878), The New District and County Atlas of Queensland (Brisbane: Watson and Ferguson).

Howgego, James (1978), Printed Maps of London, c. 1553-1850. 2nd edition (Folkstone, England: Dawson).

Kingston, Beverley (1965), 'The Origin of Queensland's "Comprehensive" Land Policy', Queensland Heritage, Vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 3-9.

Kingston, Beverley (1966), 'The Search for an Alternative to Free Selection in Queensland, 1859-1866', Queensland Heritage, Vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 3-9.

Lang, John Dunmore (1861), Queensland Australia; A Highly Eligible Field for Emigration and the Future Cotton-Field of Great Britain (London: Edward Stanford). McLaren, Ian (1972), 'Ham, Thomas (1821- 1870)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 4, pp. 328-329.

Queensland Department of Mapping & Surveying (1980), Queensland Resources Atlas (Brisbane: Premier's Department).

Survey Office, Queensland (1865), Atlas of Queensland (Brisbane: Queensland Government Printer).

Tooley, Ronald V. (1979), Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Meridian Publishing).

Waterson, Duncan (1968), Squatter, Selector and Storekeeper: A History of the Darling Downs (Sydney: Sydney University Press).

Wight, George (1862), Queensland, the Field for British Labour and Enterprise and the Source of England's Cotton Supply. 2nd edition (London: G. Street, Colonial Newspaper Offices).

Peter Griggs is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the Cairns Campus of James Cook University. For the last decade he has concentrated on undertaking research into the historical geography of the Australian sugar industry. This paper is part of a new research project into the history of mapping in Queensland. Email: [e-mail].