Hunter Living Histories September Showcase - Mapping The Regions

Hunter Living Histories Showcase
Monday, 2 September 2024 1.00pm-2.30pm

Join us at 1pm-2.30pm for the University Library’s monthly Hunter Living Histories showcase. All Welcome.

WHERE:

Virtually via (ZOOM link HERE) or physically in Room L326, Auchmuty Library, Callaghan Campus, Newcastle. (Type Room no. into ONLINE MAP)

WHEN – Monday 2 September 2024 (1.00pm-2.30pm)

WELCOME & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO COUNTRY (Gionni di Gravio OAM)
PRESENTATION: Mapping with “The Spatial Lab” with Graeme Hill

Graeme Hill is a Director of The Spatial Lab specialising in GIS mapping for over 23 years and has extensive experience across various state and local government positions. He specialises in ArcGIS (desktop, enterprise, and ArcGIS Online) and a variety of open-source GIS packages, as well as database systems, all of which are utilised in mapping and analysis projects. He shares our fascination with maps, and map making, and the nature of land and water. He believes there is a benefit to the community and town planners to see how these old maps relate to the current urban environment. Utilising historic plans from the University’s Living Histories Digital Platform he has created an historic map app up and running on his website or the full screen app here which he will present at the Showcase featuring the the 1890, 1910 Newcastle chart and map, and the 1919 Pindimar City plan for the Australian Capital at Port Stephens.

https://thespatiallab-newcastlehistory.netlify.app/

Pindimar City (1919) Concept for Australian Capital City by H. Sheaffe, licensed surveyor., Pindimar City Map, Port Stephens, New South Wales. [c. 1919], [M1590]

Comments from Mark Metrikas, Chair of the Hunter Branch National Trust

Thanks Gionni, a most interesting session!

As mentioned – City of Newcastle has extensive flood mapping online: https://newcastle.nsw.gov.au/living/environment/flooding
The Tasmanian geospatial system – Tasmap, https://nre.tas.gov.au/land-tasmania/tasmap Taslist goes some of the way toward the question: ‘why isn’t there a centralised entity that collates all the mapping and aerial photo imagery’? Numerous historical and other overlays are available and LIDAR provides a superb tool to locate old tracks, mining prospects, vegetation types – all those things unseen below tree canopies.
Human knowledge cannot be dispensed with – for example, the ability to date a map or image by looking at the built environment and the benefit of detailed historical knowledge. Good work was done in the past comparing Barralier’s maps with today’s ground truth, but those with substantial knowledge of topographical nomenclature, and site-specific history.
Same same for understanding mapping production, types of maps, etc. Traps for young players. Dept of Lands mapping – parish, cadastral etc is a nightmare to date. It’s common practice that the earliest land holders are shown until the map is so cluttered with alterations that a new version is produced. So parish maps of Newcastle thought to be 1844 – as an example – contain information added by hand several decades later.
It seems that younger generations have lost the ability to read a map – good map reading and aerial photograph reading (stereo pairs) are valuable skills worth hanging onto.
Bushwalkers, sailors and soldiers know this: built features make poor control points – buildings move or are demolished. Look for stable topographic control points like hill summits.

In studying Rose Cottage (I call it Joe Finney’s cottage) I made the following observations regards the HLH post:

Parish map traps

The Hunter Living Histories Fact Check investigates several maps from c1844 to 1860 seemingly in conflict with regards lot ownership. The first edition of Parish and Town ‘charting maps’ recorded the original allotment owners (‘first holders’). As Old System title transfers relied upon establishing an unbroken chain-of-title sequence, first holder names were retained on maps for decades. When the lot changed hands by deed of purchase, a line was ruled through the previous land holder, and a new name inserted. Revised parish and town maps were published only when the quantity of hand-amended updates to tenure rendered them unworkable. The earlier versions were then marked ‘cancelled’. Maps held at local or district Department of Lands offices were often up-to-date, but fewer amendments were made to Head Office maps. Local Lands office maps may also include notations such as lot size and a folio number.[1] Commonly, only principal public buildings were shown. The absence of a house depicted on a parish map is not evidence it hadn’t been built.

[1] A detail of an unreferenced town map (possibly c1860) has the notation ‘Simon Kemp N96’ on allotment 37 (United we stand, 2005, p 16). This probably refers to a Newcastle district lands office folio.

UPDATES FROM THE REGIONS

Regional GLAM Institutions Updates
Hunter Regional Committee Hunter National Trust Updates

HUNTER LIVING HISTORIES -Latest

- Hunter Living Histories – August 2024 Showcase – Thematic History – WATCH here https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2024/07/30/hlhaug-2024/
- What Is “Modernity” for the 50,000 Year Lived Experience of Newcastle Mulubinba (Australia)? https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2024/08/09/modernity/
- “At 6 Possession Was Taken of this Country”: The Origin of “Terra Nullius” in Lieutenant Cook’s Original Words https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2024/08/01/origin-terra-nullius-cooks-words/

EXHIBITION

“Rewind – A Hunter Region NBN Television Retrospective” – A University Library Exhibition, Level 2 Auchmuty Library Callaghan Campus. Starts 1 July, 2024 to 15 September 2024.

Rewind: A Hunter Region NBN Television Retrospective Exhibition

End : (2.30 pm)

Next meeting 14 October, 1.00pm-2.30pm

Hunter Living Histories

University of Newcastle