Loan of Dutch Navigation Charts
Close up of track detail in VOC chart From the Cape of Good Hope to the Sunda Strait (track chart)
Close-up detail of pigments from the VOC chart From the Cape of Good Hope to the Sunda Strait
Visitors to the National Library of Australia will soon have the opportunity to view four rare Dutch navigational charts, thanks to a generous loan from businessman Mr Kerry Stokes.
Despite hundreds of voyages made by the Dutch to Java, little remains of the working charts used aboard ship. Hand-drawn vellum charts used to plot courses are extremely rare and no such charts are to be found in Australian museums or libraries. This group of four charts, possibly the last remaining in private hands, was manufactured in the early 1700s and is still in perfect working order. Most remarkably, one chart has the pencilled tracks of the voyage drawn by the navigator as he struggled to keep the ship on course across the Indian Ocean. Together, they are a unique set of discovery documents for Australia and the region.
The loan was announced at the National Library on 13 August to an audience that included:
- Mr Kerry Stokes AC
- Ms Jan Fullerton AO, Director-General of the Library
- The Hon. Peter Garrett AM, MP, Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
- The Hon. Julie Bishop MP
- The Hon. Warwick Smith AM
- Sir James Gobbo AC, CVO, Chair of the Library Council.
During the handover, the Director-General thanked Mr Stokes for his longstanding support: ‘Mr Stokes is a strong supporter of the National Library of Australia, and the loan of this truly unique and exceptional collection of charts is a wonderful opportunity to share an important part of Australia’s history with the public’.
The four charts came to light in the 1980s, through the collector and publisher Nico Israel of Amsterdam. Three of the charts were drawn in 1735 by Isaac de Graaf (1667–1743), the official cartographer of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, or United East Indies Company, 1602–1799), and another a little earlier in the cartographic workshops of Batavia (now Jakarta), the centre of Dutch trade and exploration in the East. It was from here that the earliest European explorations to Australia were launched.
If these vellum charts are an enduring testament to the skills of the early navigators, they are also a challenge for collecting institutions to manage. Each has now been digitised and made available through the Library’s catalogue, but will require additional treatment before going on display.
Vellum is a writing material made from animal skin, usually calf for something of this size. The vellum is prepared from the pelt by drying it under tension on a wooden frame. The pelts would have been treated with lime to allow the hair and flesh to be scrapped off, producing a smooth surface. The characteristics of vellum make it an ideal substrate for voyage charts. Vellum is a light and flexible material, making it easy to roll and transport. It is very susceptible to changes in relative humidity and, due to the nature of manufacture, it likes to be held under tension. This was an important factor in deciding which preservation treatment would be most suitable for the ongoing storage and display of the charts.
Prior to undertaking any form of mounting, the charts will need to be humidified in order to make them responsive to any flattening or tensioning treatment which follows. The tension mounting technique will require twisted linen threads to hold the charts in place in their frames under tension. The threads are designed to allow some lateral movement as the skin expands and contracts. Should the skin move too much the thread will pop off, thus releasing the skin from further tension and preventing damage.
Prior to the loan being made, the charts were taken to the National Gallery of Australia for microscopic analysis under different light sources. The aim of this analysis was to establish the provenance of the charts and discover the composition of the pencil, ink and pigment inscriptions.
From the Cape of Good Hope to the Sunda Straits was dated 1735 however a literature source suggested that the pencil inscriptions were written in 1745. Under an infrared light source, the pencil inscriptions absorb the light and produce a strong dark line. From conservation literature, we understand the carbon based media produces this visual result, enabling us to conclude that the pencil is carbon based, probably graphite. The literature dating of graphite is also consistent with this result.
Other features drawn in pigment by the cartographer were also examined. Based on knowledge of the pigments available at the time of the chart’s creation, it was determined that the red pigment was vermilion (mercuric sulphide) and the blue pigment, blue verditer (copper carbonate), also consistent with the period. The remaining pigments, yellow and green, were visually examined but no clear conclusions could be drawn. Further analysis will take place using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy.
When the charts are ready for viewing, it will be of particular interest to maritime historians to observe at close hand the plotting of an actual voyage, where the skipper took evasive action in a storm, in the days before longitude could be accurately calculated. The track of the East-Indiaman Diermermeer from the Cape to Ceylon is plotted, corresponding with records of the VOC. This ship left the Cape on February 9, 1745, the first position is on February 24, due south of the Cape. Such evidence, rare as it is for voyages, will be the subject of ongoing research and debate.
Dr Martin Woods
Curator of Maps
Sophie Lewincamp
Paper Conservator



