The Dixson map collection

A beautiful hand-coloured engraved chart which depicts New Guinea and the west coast of Cape York, believed by the Dutch to be one land. This is one of the first printed maps to depict the Australian coastline. Drooge bocht (dry bight) at the centre is Torres Strait. The west coast of Cape York had been discovered and charted by Willem Jansz in the Duyfken in 1606, the earliest definite sighting of the Australian coastline.

In 1637, Hendrik Hondius published the first version of this map. It was regularly revised and reissued. This version is from Jansson’s Grooten Atlas and is one of the earliest printed maps to show Abel Tasman’s discoveries on the western coastline of New Holland, ‘Nova Hollandia detect Anno 1644’, the southern tip of Van Diemen’s Land and an edge of New Zealand. The large vignettes surrounding the hemispherical map depict scenes from South America and the Pacific region.

From Goos' De Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Weereld, 1666, this world map shows all the discoveries of Tasman's voyages. This map remained unchanged for 10 years and through twenty editions until Goos' death in 1675.

The Dutch firm of Van Keulen was founded by Johannes Van Keulen in 1680 and continued through until 1885. The strength of the company was in the production of marine charts. This plate was probably from theirGroote nieuwe vermeerderde zee-atlas ofte water-werelt and it depicts the Indian Ocean and coasts of eastern Africa, India, East Indies, and Australia, along with an elaborate cartouche of scenes from the exotic east.

Designed for the French market, this map depicts the Australian east coast, detailing Captain James Cook's 1770 discoveries, along with the route of Abel Tasman in 1642. The directions of regular and variable trade winds are also illustrated.

Prior to his explorations in the Pacific, James Cook served in the Royal Navy in North America during the Anglo-French Seven Years’ War and saw his first campaigning off Louisbourg, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island). Cook surveyed the St Lawrence gulf and river in Quebec and charted the river in detail to enable a large armada of ships to enter. This chart of the St. Lawrence River shows settlements, ship channels, and anchorages. The soundings shown in fathoms. The original version of this map by James Cook was published in 1760.

Grimes was appointed in 1790 as Deputy-Surveyor of roads, employed on Norfolk Island. He stayed on the Island for 4 years and was appointed head constable. In April 1794 he was posted to the mainland to assist the Surveyor-General, Augustus Alt. He was first stationed at the Hawkesbury River and then at Toongabbie.

In February 1795 he visited Port Stephens and surveyed the area for Lieutenant-Governor Paterson. Grimes reports that the Harbour and Rivers above Direction Island (now called Boondabah or Middle Island) were traced by rowing from point to point and estimating the distance by the eye. 'Below Direction Island, by taking the bearings from the vessel, as she lay at anchor off Salamander Point the country to the South and West is a mangrove swamp, on the north side there are a few hills, but the ground is very bad and the timber, low. There are mangroves and oysters, as far up the Rivers as we went, tho' the water is perfectly fresh.'

Grimes has also included depth soundings, information regarding the bar across the entrance to the harbour and notes about locations of fresh water.

From 1791 to 1831, the governors of New South Wales issued free grants of land on behalf of the Crown to individuals to encourage the settlement of the colony. Evidence of ownership was provided by a document known as a Crown grant. This map shows grant lot numbers and acreages in 1814. Several place names included on the map have been replaced. At point H: ‘Bulanaming’ was used up until the 1820s for the area between Sydney and the Cooks River. In 1810 Governor Macquarie renamed the Green Hills region as Windsor although the former name appears on this map.

This map was produced around 1850 in Sydney by William Meadows Brownrigg, a surveyor and lithographic printer. It is noted at the bottom of the map that it was drawn on stone by William Henry Fernyhough who was a silhouette artist, lithographer and draughtsman.

By 1850, the Sydney settlement stretched across the Harbour to the north shore, identified as the town of St Leonards. Land ownership and settlement has moved northwards marked as the district of Willoughby. Owners such as Wolstonecraft [sic], Berry and Mossman [sic] have large pockets of land in this area. Across in the east, landowners names are a roll call of signficant characters of early Sydney: John Piper, Thomas Mitchell, William Wentworth, Alexander McLeay. Settlement runs along the length of the Parramatta road through districts such as Concord and Liberty Plains. The Windsor road, Pennant Hills road and Kissing Point road spread out from the Parramatta township. The Female Factory, the Female Orphan School and the gaol are indicated at Parramatta and the Marsden name continues to be associated with this area.

The first Royal Tour of Australia was in 1867 - 68 with the official visit of Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster on 24 May 1866 and in January 1867 left England on an extensive world tour as commander of the H.M.S. Galatea.

The Duke spent nearly 5 months in Australia including visits to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania. The H.M.S. Galatea arrived in Sydney on 21 January 1868. According to newspaper reports no less than 100,000 people welcomed the Duke with fervour. 'Flowered arches spanned the streets, flags fluttered from public buildings, and illuminations lit the scene by night'. A letter to the editor from the Sydney Morning Herald, 18 January, reported that Garden Island would be open to the public....in order to afford an opportunity for those desirous of seeing the arrival of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh.' Unfortunately, on 12 March 1868, while attending a picnic at Contarf, the Duke was wounded in an assassination attempt by James O'Farrell, a Fenian sympathizer. The Library holds an eyewitness account written by Emily Thorne of the attempted assassination. Curiously, an article in theSydney Morning Herald in 1932 claims that on board the Galatea was the Duke's mascot, an elephant, presented to the Duke by an Indian 'of some consequence'. The elephant was allowed to roam around Cockatoo Island while the Galatea was docked and given an overhaul.

In 1872 a Select Committee was set up 'to consider and report upon the best means of improving the Wharf Accommodation of Sydney Harbour, and providing greater facilities for the loading and unloading of Vessels.' According to the Chairman of the committee, Henry Parkes, 'the Circular Quay in its present state, looking to the commercial importance of the port, is a disgrace to the country.'

This map shows a selection of 4 plans submitted to the Committee. The plan considered the most advantageous by the Committee was the one submitted by Lieutenant John Gowlland, seen here as Appendix F (top right). According to Gowlland, his plan 'gives the greatest amount of wharf accommodation in a limited space; that it is much easier to get vessels into and out from their berths, and that it is the least expensive.' According to Gowlland it would cost approximately 60,000 pounds.

An additional feature of the Gowlland plan was the extension of George Street down to Dawes point where a safe area would be created for loading and unloading public passengers taking pleasure trips around the harbour, separate from the congestion of the main port. This set of plans was prepared by Norman Selfe, the well known draftsman and engineer, who later designed a cantilever harbour bridge from Dawes Point to McMahon's Point.

Like an early map overlay, this 1900 map depicts two maps of Sydney Cove superimposed over each other. The red lines indicate the original coastlines depicted in James Meehan's 1807 map and the dark lines indicate the street blocks existing in 1807 with a 1900 map indicating streets, buildings and wharves.