‘Maps break down our inhibitions, stimulate our glands, stir our imagination, loosen our tongues’ thus spoke Carl Sauer in an essay entitled Education of a Geographer in 1956.

Five views of Thursday Island, including Thursday Island from Military Hill, Victoria Parade, Sumai, native village, Quetta Memorial Cathedral, postcard, c1920. Collection of the National Library of Australia

A Chart of Bligh’s Straits in the Clarence Archipelago discovered and explored by William Bligh of the Royal Navy, September 1792

Torres Strait, QLD
Australia
1 January 1792

Location

Torres Strait, QLD
Australia

Just a few months after the declaration of the new Queensland colony in 1859, the crew of the Sapphire were attacked by people from Kirriri in south-west Torres Strait, and their vessel subsequently wrecked near Raine Island. This event galvanized Governor Bowen and the Duke of Newcastle into action to establish a ‘safe settlement’ in and around Torres Strait. The initial settlement of Somerset at Cape York (1864-1877) was replaced by Thursday Island. Affectionately known as ‘TI’ it continues as the administrative centre and town of Torres Strait, and is often mistakenly seen by outsiders as the Torres Strait itself. A Chart of Bligh’s Straits in the Clarence Archipelago discovered and explored by William Bligh of the Royal Navy, September 1792. Courtesy National Library of Australia

Map of the southern portion of the colony of Queensland showing the surveyed runs, 1872, Sheet 1

Moreton QLD
Australia
Darling Downs QLD
Australia
Wide Bay/Burnett QLD
Australia
1 January 1872

Locations

Moreton QLD
Australia
Darling Downs QLD
Australia
Wide Bay/Burnett QLD
Australia
Brisbane
Surveyor General’s Office
12 miles to an inch
Sheet 1: Map of the southern portion of the colony of Queensland showing the surveyed runs. Detail of Moreton, Darling Downs, Wide Bay, and Burnett Districts. Printed at the Government Engraving & Lithographic Office Brisbane. Drawn on stone by H.W.Fox, Surveyor General’s Office Brisbane, 1872. The map key indicates ten year leases (green), resumed halves of runs (brown), surveyed land (purple), boundaries of runs in unsettled districts (green lines), and tin discoveries (blue). Collection of the Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying, Queensland

Map of the southern portion of the colony of Queensland showing the surveyed runs, 1872

QLD
Australia
1 January 1872

Location

QLD
Australia
Brisbane
Surveyor General’s Office
12 English statute miles = 1 inch
Map of the southern portion of the colony of Queensland showing the surveyed runs, compiled from official records in the Crown Lands and Survey offices under the supervision of W. Alcock Tully, Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, 1872. Printed at the Government Engraving & Lithographic Office, Brisbane. Drawn on stone by H.W.Fox, Surveyor General’s Office Brisbane. Original Plan drafted by H.R. Bagot. The map key indicates ten year leases (green), resumed halves of runs (brown), surveyed runs (blue) and boundaries of runs in unsettled districts (green lines). Collection of the Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying, Queensland

From the 1820s, scarcity of good land led pastoralists to establish runs on the Darling Downs and east of Moreton Bay.

View of the goldfield in Paradise, c1897, stereographic print. Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Collection of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland image 15952

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