Maps Collections in Australia: a directory  
  Home About Search Help Feedback Resources  
  Home Search Help Feedback Resources  

Searching the directory

This directory provides access to information about map collections held around Australia - where they are, what's in them, who to contact and when you can access them.

Leaving any search option blank, or selecting 'All' will return an alphabetical listing of collections, 10 at a time, which match the rest of your search criteria.


Search by geographic area

Use the 'Geographic area' option to locate map collections which cover specific geographic areas.

* Tips to remember

  • You can search on the broad geographic areas in the following list or on specific areas or places not included in the list. Broad geographic areas are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America, South America, World, ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
  • Geographic searching is keyword eg 'ocean' will retrieve Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean etc
  • If you enter more than one word, a collection record must contain all the words in order to be retrieved eg 'tas vic' will only retrieve collections that cover both Tasmania and Victoria
  • You can truncate a search term by using the percentage (%) symbol, eg "aust%" will find collections with one or more of 'austria', 'australia', 'australasia' etc.;

Search by subject

Use the 'Subject' option to locate map collections which cover specific subject areas.

* Tips to remember

  • You can only search on subjects in the Subjects list.
  • Subject searching is keyword; it is not necessary to enter the whole phrase eg 'geological' will find Geological maps
  • If you enter more than one word, a collection record must contain all the words in order to be retrieved eg 'geological geophysical' will only retrieve collections that have both 'Geological maps' and 'Geophysical maps'
  • You can truncate your search term by using the percentage (%) symbol, eg "geo%" will find collections which have one or more of 'Engineering geology maps', 'Geological maps', 'Geomorphological maps', or 'Geophysical maps' .

Search by name

Use the 'Name' option to locate map collections within a specific organisation or branch of an organisation.

* Tips to remember

  • Name searching is keyword; you may enter just one or two words from the name and words may be entered in any order
  • You can truncate your search term by using the percentage (%) symbol, eg "environment%" will find both 'environment' and 'environmental'

Search by date range

Use the 'Date range' option to restrict your search to collections which cover a specific period. A collection may cover several time periods.

* Tips to remember

  • Select a date range from the drop down list. The date ranges are Pre-1800, 1801-1850, 1851-1900, 1901-1950, 1951-2000, and 2001+. You may select only one date range.
  • If the default 'Any period' is used, then no date restriction is applied to your search.

Search on a combination of the above

You may use any of the above search options in combination. A collection must meet all of the criteria you specify in order to be retrieved.


Contact: maps@nla.gov.au

[Hosted by the National Library of Australia]