National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 70 | August 2004


Maps Collection: Early Geological Maps of Australia

A colour map mounted on linen 'First sketch of a geological map of Australia including Tasmania' by R. Brough Smyth, F.G.S., F.L.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. ... 25th April 1873

R. Brough (Robert Brough) Smyth (1830-1889)
First sketch of a geological map of Australia including Tasmania
by R. Brough Smyth, F.G.S., F.L.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. ...
25 April 1873
Melbourne: Lithographed by Richard Shepherd and printed
by James Finnie, Dept. of Mines, 1875
col. map; mounted on linen; 55.1 x 58.0 cm
Maps Collection, nla.map-rm3776

The Library has recently acquired a small but significant collection of early geological maps relating to Australia and New South Wales. Gathered by the geologist David Branagan during his working career, the maps reflect the pioneering work of some of Australia’s early geologists and mineralogists. (David Branagan has also written a biography of the pre-eminent Australian geologist, Sir T.W. Edgeworth David, to be published by the National Library.)

Perhaps the most significant item among the new acquisitions, although it is also the smallest, is Robert Brough Smyth’s First sketch of a geological map of Australia including Tasmania, 1875. Smyth was appointed as Secretary to the newly established Board of Science, Melbourne, in 1858 and two years later was appointed to the position of Secretary of Mines, Victoria. An energetic and at times controversial figure, Smyth was an avid compiler of other people’s work. In October 1872 he requested permission to compile a geological map of Australia and by April 1873 had compiled a manuscript draft. Further information was sought, particularly covering Central Australia, and by November 1875 the map was ready to be published. Issued at a scale of 110 miles to an inch, the final map was issued in two sheets. The two sheets in the copy acquired by the Library have been joined.

The provenance of this particular copy is interesting, for at one stage it was owned by the scientist Archibald Liversidge. Liversidge was born in England and emigrated to Australia where he was appointed Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in 1874, and was first Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney from 1879 to 1907. He was actively involved in the founding of the Australian & New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science and was one of the trustees of the Australian Museum. With specialisations in chemistry and mineralogy he contributed a number of significant specimens to the Museum’s collection.

On another map in the collection, Liversidge has annotated the location of various minerals throughout New South Wales together with the known distribution of gold and coal fields and also vine-growing districts.

A third map of significance in the collection is Arthur Everett’s magnificent wall map titled Continental Australia: from the most recent information & materials supplied by the survey departments of the several colonies geologically colored by Arthur Everett… 1887. Like Smyth, Everett was a compiler but he was also a draughtsman. The map was sourced from state geological maps which by the 1880s were readily available, and the base map was supplied by the Victorian Lands Department, constructed under the direction of the Surveyor-General, A.J. Skene. The map was one of the largest geological maps published in Australia at that time, exceeded in size only by the 1863 and 1880 geological maps of Victoria. Originally priced at £3.10.0, it was the most expensive map issued by the Department.
—Maura O’Connor, Map Curator

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