Using maps as tools in Family History
What's that place called?
Quite often, we find a letter or other document that gives us the name of a location in which our ancestors could be found. But we face two difficulties, early Australians were not very inventive and tended to name new locations after ones they knew "back home"; so there are many cases of the same name being used many times in different places. And then they would decide to change the name!. So how can you nail down exactly where your family was? These is a Government procedure for regulating place names and you can find the details at the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (which now includes what old-timers knew as the Lands Department). As is sometimes the way with bureaucrats, a similar (but not identical) collection of information can be found at https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/mapping-data/place-names/search/queensland-place-names-search and yet another at https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/place-names/ A project of the University of Queensland called Queensland Places gives you a potted summary of local history (sometmes including previous names). Old Maps Online
http://www.oldmapsonline.org/ The OldMapsOnline Portal is an easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. It allows the user to search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. Search by typing a place-name or by clicking in the map window, and narrow by date. The search results provide a direct link to the map image on the website of the host institution (including the Rumsey collection) The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection http://www.davidrumsey.com/ The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection focuses on 18th and 19th century North and South American cartographic materials. The collection includes atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts, and a variety of separate maps including pocket, wall, children's and manuscript maps. Note that there are several excellent maps of areas outside the Americas, such as an early airline chart showing some QANTAS routes |
Find Queensland maps
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