National Library of Australia - Gateways>

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 49| February 2001


Aboriginal map acquisitions

satellite image of North Balranald region

The National Library has acquired two significant map acquisitions relating to Australian Aboriginal sacred sites.

The first is a set of maps, compiled by the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority. Titled Sacred sites in Northern Territory coastal waters, the loose-leaf atlas consists of 49 maps compiled at a scale of 1:250 000. The maps show the central point and areal extent of registered sacred sites, which are sites the Aboriginal custodians have asked the Authority to protect and document; centroids of recorded sacred sites, known to the Authority but not yet assessed, and the site numbers of both categories. Physical aspects of the site, including inundation, billabongs, swamps and mangroves are also recorded.

The second set consists of three Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) data images captured during January 2000 over the Balranald–Mildura Region. At a resolution of 250 metres each image covers an area of approximately 185 x 185 kilometres, enabling one to see paddock-size parcels of land and the water bodies associated with the Darling River. Superimposed over the images is artist Tracey Andrews interpretation of Dreaming Tracks across the area. The maps, which were the working print for her exhibition, ‘Mapping Possibilities 2000’, compiled with Lyn Moore, and held at the Mildura Arts Centre, are stunning examples of Indigenous interpretation of the Australian landscape, using a very modern, European image of the area as a base map.

Above: Satellite image of North Balranald region annotated with Aboriginal Dreaming tracks
1 ms. map: col.; 28.9 x 28.9 cm. Map Collection

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