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National Library of Australia News Auguxt 2006
On the cover this month
Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598)
Indiae orientalis insularumque adiacientium typus India, the orient and adjacent islands, included in Ortelius' atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
hand-coloured engraving; 32.7 x 47.6 cm
Antwerp: Ortelius, 1570
Maps Collection, nla.map-t937

 

Maps are complex and frequently enigmatic objects. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps were prized not only for the information they contained but also for their beauty, and the cartographers of the day often filled uncharted blank spaces with cartouches, decorations and imaginary or rumoured lands. In this map, the Great South Land or Terra Australis ('Beach pars continentis Australis') is shown emerging below Java, and depictions of sea monsters, ships and inscriptions abound. Discover the pleasures and mysteries of old maps in the story.

 
On the cover this month...

August 2006 Volume XVI Number 11

THE MISCRAFT OF MAPMAKERS
  Avan Stallard, one of this year’s Norman McCann Summer Scholars, delves into the imaginative and flawed world of mapmaking and explains why he’s addicted for life
THE ULTIMATE TRIP
  Agnieszka Sobocinska, a Norman McCann Summer Scholar for 2006, reflects on the revolutionary and highly fashionable hippie trail of the 1970s
A FANATIC HEART
  Dunya Lindsey, a Norman McCann Summer Scholar for 2006, reveals the tragic tale of rebellious Irish convict Patrick O'Donohoe
A DIFFERENT SHADE OF WHITE
  Georgia Sheills, a Norman McCann Summer Scholar for 2006, investigates the hostile response to Italian migrants, or 'white aliens', in interwar Australia
EXPLORING THE WATERWAYS

Judy Cannon reveals the flamboyant life of Captain Francis Cadell who pioneered transport on the Murray River
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