www.australiaonthemap.org.au I s s u e

Map Matters 1

Issue 16 December 2011

Inside this issue Welcome to the "Spring" 2011 edition of Map Matters, News the newsletter of the on the Map Division of the Editorial: Reflections on History and Heritage Australasian Hydrographic Society. Protecting, Commemorating and Interpreting Maritime If you have any contributions or suggestions for History Sites A Dangerous Question Map Matters, you can email them to me at: 24th International Conference [email protected], or post them to me at: on the GPO Box 1781, Canberra, 2601 in Moscow The First Views of the Frank Geurts Australian Coast in 1658 Hydro 2011 – Fremantle, Editor Search for Buried Shipwrecks in Bunbury

Commences Members welcome Contacts How to contact the AOTM Division

Editorial

Reflections on History and Heritage

This issue of Map Matters has two articles raising interesting questions about the correct identification, naming and protection of historically significant maritime and coastal landmarks – issues Ken Gold has raised on Point Danger/Fingal Head, and Trevor Lipscombe’s on Rame Head/Little Rame Head. Trevor addresses the issues of how such sites are protected, commemorated and interpreted.

This issue may be a bit broader than a couple of examples where landmarks have been misnamed however. I have been personally involved in a debate about where the first Europeans to reside in Australia were deliberately marooned in 1629. In this case I have been arguing a local council has erected a monument and interpretative signage in the wrong location. The Division and the Eastern Australian Region of the AHS collaborated in recent years in endeavouring to have The Basin and Refuge Bay area placed on the National Heritage Register. This was intended to recognise the significance of this location as the place where the first draft of the Australian Constitution was drawn up on the government steam yacht Lucinda over Easter 1891. The nomination was rejected! The Australia on the Map Division has also been lobbying, without success thus far, for the establishment of an „Explorers Commemorative Area‟ in the Parliamentary Triangle, so that the achievements of important explorers1 and navigators in the history of Australia and its states and territories can be recognised.

Reflecting on these matters, it seems to me that in some cases we are trying to get recognition for important sites linked to important historical events. But if the significance is not recognised, it becomes difficult to have it protected. If the relevant authorities make a meal of correct identification of a site, it is difficult to have the right location acknowledged, commemorated, protected and explained. Compounding this problem is the lack of any system. Certainly there is extensive heritage protection legislation at national and state levels, but this is aimed at preserving treasured buildings and landscapes, not at identifying, acknowledging and explaining significant events and their associated landmarks. No tier of government, local, state or national, has identified responsibility for such things. So it is no-one‟s responsibility. The result is well-meaning, ad hoc, initiatives by various passionate individuals, local groups, councils and the like.

Many of us have heard the refrain, “Australia doesn‟t really have a history,” or “Australian history is really boring.” I would suggest that a significant part of this perception is simply a lack of awareness. A good example I came across recently lies on a coastal road on the central west coast of WA. A range of interesting events in early maritime history had occurred in this area. Along the way there were roadside information bays, which dutifully inform the passer-by all about the plants and animals in the area. But not a word is written about the history. If significant places were systematically acknowledged, signposted, protected and explained, then over time Australians would become better educated and appreciate some of the amazing things that have happened around our coasts and along our waterways, and elsewhere. Rupert Gerritsen Chair Australia on the Map Division

Protecting, Commemorating and Interpreting Maritime History Sites – Does Australia on the Map Division have a role?

As part of it role in promoting awareness of hydrographic history and heritage, the Australia on the Map Division (AOTM) of the Australasian Hydrographic Society encourages further research and greater awareness of the long and rich maritime history of Australia.

Around Australia‟s coast there are many important maritime history sites – places where explorers landed, sought water, wood and food, buried their dead, encountered Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, or found new flora and fauna. Capes, rivers, mountains and other features were named, sprinkling an intriguing trail of historical references which mark explorers‟ tracks. Because of the remote nature of many parts of the Australian coastline many of these sites remain exactly as they were and would be readily recognised by the Europeans who first saw or visited them. A tiny number of sites, such as Cook‟s landing place at , are effectively commemorated and interpreted. But the significance of many

1 Beginning with the original Indigenous discoverers, through to Janszoon, Hartog, Sturt, Mitchell and so on. important sites goes unrecognised, their heritage values are often at risk and tourism opportunities are being missed.

A good example is the first feature on the Australian coast named by that celebrity navigator (see my article „Rame Head – a remarkably overlooked point‟ in Cook’s Log, Vol. 34, No. 4, October 2011 – email me at [email protected] if you would like a copy). This site is important for a number of reasons but it is not recognised as important locally, has no heritage protection, is not commemorated on the ground and has no local interpretation. Cook named this feature Ram(e) Head because „This point rises to a round hillick, very much like the Ram Head going into Plymouth Sound‟. As a result of a remarkable topographical coincidence, Cook‟s point of departure from England is neatly linked to his point of arrival in Australia. It is also the first place on the Australian mainland named after a place in Britain.

Cook‟s Rame Head, on the Croajingolong coast, appears on today‟s map of Victoria as Little Rame Head, and is now home to a solar powered navigation light.

Little Rame Head Light (Photo: John Ibbotson)

A portion of the „round hillick‟ has been chopped away to provide a helipad so that the light can be maintained. Had the heritage importance of this site been recognised perhaps it would have been more sensitively treated, commemorated and interpreted locally.

Croajingolong Coast (Photo: Al Sweet)

Many opportunities exist for remote communities to bring tourists to their areas to visit such sites, widening awareness of Australia‟s maritime history. So what is to be done? The aim of this article is to start a conversation about what AOTM might do. Awareness begins with research to identify and visit these sites. Several members of AOTM have done this and published the results. There are plenty of opportunities for more research in this area. Next, these sites need to be ranked in order of importance and steps taken to protect, commemorate and interpret them. AOTM is well placed to identify key sites where action is required.

Protection can take a number of forms, from formal heritage listing through federal and state government heritage bodies and/or the state National Trusts, to drawing the attention of local historical societies, museums and tourism authorities to the values of these places. The „worthiness‟ of sites for heritage listing changes over time and is enhanced by increased awareness of their values, an important role for AOTM. AOTM, itself a heritage body, could, like National Trusts and other conservation bodies, draw up, publish and promote its own register of sites of national and regional importance, highlighting those at particular risk. A number of sites have already been identified by AOTM members and unsuccessful efforts made to have them heritage listed. This lack of success perhaps suggests that the ‟worthiness‟ of these sites is not yet appreciated by heritage authorities and that more work needs to be done to raise awareness, particularly in the local area, so that these sites are better valued. The history of heritage listing in Australia suggests that „worthiness‟ can change over a relatively short period.

Commemoration involves memorials or plaques which mark the significance of a place. The physical commemoration of maritime history events is important in raising awareness among locals and visitors. In some areas this has been done by local historical societies and local authorities, but there are many significant sites which would benefit from sensitive commemoration.

Interpretation involves providing more information than a memorial or commemorative plaque can do. Interpretation panels at or near significant sights, displays in visitor centres and museums, heritage trails, local history leaflets and publications, are examples. There are some excellent examples of effective interpretation, but it is piecemeal and a multitude of equally or more important sites remain unmarked.

Given its limited resources AOTM‟s role is likely to be limited to being a catalyst for action through a systematic approach. Possible objectives are identifying areas for and encouraging research, identifying and publishing a register of important sites, and seeking national heritage listing for key sites. Mobilising and supporting local initiatives through State National Trusts, local historical societies, tourism bodies and local councils, could also be an important role for AOTM, utilising its network throughout Australia.

Trevor Lipscombe

A Dangerous Question

In 1766 the Royal Society of London commissioned Lt. (later Captain) James Cook to explore the Pacific Ocean. On 19 April 1770 he became the first known European to encounter the eastern coastline of Australia.

After naming Rame Head [what is now known as Little Rame Head – see Trevor Lipscombe‟s article above], sailing north to the famous Botany Bay, Cook continued along the Australian coastline and on 16 May 1770, after nearly running aground on a reef, came upon what was named by him , inland of the northern New South Wales point named Fingal Head. A lava flow from Mount Warning, once a volcano, had created a three mile long reef from an island (Cook Island) 500 m off the coast here. On this day in Endeavour journal Cook recorded:

We now saw the breakers again they lay two Leagues from a point under which is a small Island, their situation may always be found by the peaked mountain before mentioned from them this mountain or hill, and on this account I have named Mount Warning it lies 7 or 8 Leagues inland the land is high and hilly about it, but it is conspicuous enough to be distinguished from everything else. The point off which these shoals lay I have named Point Danger.

This innocent act has ignited a controversy that seems to have begun as early as 1823, when government surveyor, John Oxley, set out in the Mermaid to explore Port Curtis, the site of Gladstone. Oxley explored , which had been named by Captain Cook, and the Brisbane River, as well as exploring and naming the Tweed River. It was during this voyage that Oxley encountered what is now known as Fingal Head and reported it as being Point Danger, so named by Captain James Cook. Oxley's favourable report on the Brisbane River saw him return the following year and establish the colony of Brisbane under the direction of Sir Thomas Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales in 1824.

Fingal Head (Photo: Unknown)

At some time in 1828 Henry John Rous, travelling north, charted the Tweed River, which he named the Clarence River, unaware that it had already been named the Tweed River by Oxley in 1823. Rous came up the eastern coastline and around the reef off the coast of the feature now known Fingal Head, and arrived at a place called Rainbow Bay, so named after his ship. It was there that Henry Rous has arguably caused all of the confusion. He named the, at the time, unnamed site of Point Danger as being that of Cook's Point Danger.

There was further confusion as to the location of Cook's Point Danger when in 1840 surveyor Robert Dixon was given the task of doing the first land survey of the area. Dixon‟s role was to map the New South Wales and Queensland border. He was told to map the border from the west to Point Danger on the east coast. Dixon took the location of Cook's Point Danger as being that of the one identified by Rous in 1828 rather than the one identified by Oxley in 1823. In 1970, on the 200th anniversary of Cook's naming of Point Danger and given that the location seemed to be correct, a memorial was placed at the current site and the New South Wales, Queensland and Federal governments combined to erect the Point Danger Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse. However, in 1971, the following year, after much debate about the location of Cook's Point Danger and the Queensland-New South Wales border, the Geographical Names Board declared:

little doubt exists that the feature named Point Danger by Captain Cook was in actual fact the feature now known as Fingal Head. However, as the name has been known in its present position for over 130 years and having in mind the wording of the letters Patent of 6 June, 1859, in which the position of the QLD-New South Wales border is linked with the position of Point Danger, the Board is not prepared to assign the name to any feature or position other than that to which it is currently located.

The misnaming obviously raised a significant constitutional issue. Yet despite this pronouncement, some 18 years later debate was still continuing. In November 1989 the Geographical Names Board approved a historical re-enactment of Cook's voyage. The research for the re-enactment led to Acting Chief Surveyor Ron Benjamin finding that:

From the re-enactment voyage, I now have no doubt that Captain Cook's, 'point of land under which lies a small island', was intended to be today's Fingal Head.

However, in 1998, following another review, the New South Wales Geographic Names Board, it was concluded, in part:

From an analysis of Cook’s Private Log, the Official Log of the ‘Endeavour’, Cook’s Journal and the journals of Cook’s Officers, and relating the analysis to modern nautical charts and maps of the area, it is suggested that the following conclusions be drawn:

5. It is the opinion of the Geographic Names Board Committee therefore that the present Point Danger is correctly designated.

The matter did not finish their however. Many were unhappy with a conclusion that appeared to be so at odds with the historical facts and agitation continued. Trevor Lipscombe, in closely tracking Cook‟s voyage and ground-truthing the places he named in On Austral Shores (2005), concluded:

There can be little doubt that Fingal Head is Cook’s Point Danger

Then in 2007, at Ken Gold‟s behest, Dr Nigel Erskine of the Australian National Maritime reviewed the argument put forward by the Geographic Names Board. As a result of Ken‟s views and activities, and support from a number of authorities, Mr Chris Hartcher was able to rise and inform the Parliament of New South Wales on 9 April 2008:

that today the Geographical Names Board has considered Mr Gold's efforts and announced that the official records for Point Danger and Fingal Head will be changed to reflect both the historical versions of the naming of Cook's Point Danger.

So a sort of curious compromise has been reached. The records reflect the historical truth, but Point Danger and Fingal Head retain their misnomers, perhaps the constitutional and administrative issues are just too difficult.

Rupert Gerritsen

The 24th International Conference on the History of Cartography in

Moscow th The 24 International Conference on the History of Cartography 24-я Международная Конференция по Истории Картографии Russia, Moscow 10 – 15 July 2011 Москва, Россия 10 – 15 июля 2

The 24th International Conference on the History of Cartography was held in Moscow, 10 – 15 July 2011. The venue was the Pashkov House of the Russian State Library, right beside the Kremlin. The Pashkov House is a beautiful 18th century mansion that has been refurbished for modern use and houses the Library's map department. Conference papers were delivered in the former ballroom. Fifty-two papers were given over the five-day period and, despite the distractions of a program of sightseeing around the city, attendances were good throughout. Participants came from 33 countries and there were five Australians and a New Zealander, one of whom gave a presentation. The presentations covered a very wide range of cartographic history relating to many times and places. One in particular that was highly regarded was by Harry Theunissen from , "The Topography of Terror: Maps of the Warsaw Ghetto".

A full list of papers is available at www.ichc2011.ru. Poster presentations were given in the balconies adjoining the ballroom, in parallel with the main sessions. During the conference a new edition was launched of Nicolaas Witsen's Noord en Oost Tartarie (Amsterdam, 1687) with a Russian translation. Russian hospitality was very much in evidence from the conference hosts, the Map Department of the Russian State Library whose Head, Liudmila Zinchuk, ably assisted by Natalia Vinogradova and other colleagues, earned the gratitude of participants for their efforts. Most stayed at the residential complex of the Russian Academy of Public Administration at the end of the Metro line not far from Moscow State University, and the complex was the venue for the conference dinner. Some participants visited the Russian National Library located in St Petersburg after the conference, where they were given a special viewing of some of its cartographic treasures as guests of the Head of the Cartography Department, Dr Ludmila Kildushevskaya. Particularly impressive was an original edition in perfect preservation of the 1482 Ulm edition of Ptolemy's Geographia. Many of the papers presented at ICHC2011 are expected to appear in coming months as journal articles.

Robert J. King

The First Views of the Australian Coast in 1658

Many of us have an interest in old maps, particularly old maps of Australia. Most would know that the first charting of Australia took place in 1606 when the charted about 300 kilometres of west Cape York. But the original chart no longer exists, the oldest copy being in the Van der Hem , published in 1670 and held by Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (National Library of Austria). Consequently it would appear that the oldest extant map which shows any part of Australia is the Gerrritsz map of 1622.

Gerritsz Map (1622) Bibliotheque Nationale

This is a map of the Pacific which shows the part of Cape York charted by the Duyfken. Even though had charted some of the Western Australian coast in 1616, this was not published until 1627 as part of “Caert van't Landt van d' uyt de Iournalen ende afteykeningen der Stierluyden t'samengestelt” [Map of Lands of Eendracht from the Taurus Journals and accounts of ordinary people]

But there is more to hydrography than just charting and mapping coasts. Accurate maps are of course important for navigators, then as now. Long ago, before such things as bathymetric charts, GPS, sonars and lidars were even dreamed of, explorers and navigators needed all the help they could get. One of the few tools available at that time, apart from compasses, charts and maps, were coastal profiles. These were intended to help those visiting unfamiliar coasts to identify where they were, by providing a panorama of the coast, its form and features. In effect they were landscapes of the coast as seen from the sea.

For Australia the oldest coastal profiles date from 1658. One is rather unusual in that it combines a chart with a coastal profile. That was a chart known as Kaart van [Chart of Eendrachtsland] drawn up from a survey of 500 kilometres of the coast, north from (off Perth) in Western Australia by Skipper Samuel Volkersen of the Waeckende Boey [Watching Buoy]. Volkersen and the crew of the Waeckende Boey had been searching for 68 marooned passengers and crew from the Vergulde Draeck, which had sunk 90 kilometres north of Perth in 1656.

Part of Chart of Eendrachtsland (Volkersen, 1658)

Part of Rottnest Island, which was discovered on this voyage but not named until 1697, can be seen at the bottom of the map. Unfortunately, while at least providing a view of the coast, for the most part there is not much detail apart from a disproportionately prominent Mt Lesueur farther north.

Accompany the Waeckende Boey was another ship, the Emeloort, skippered by Aucke Pieter Jonck. Jonck‟s charting resulted in another map, also known as Kaart van Eendrachtsland, of this part of the Western Australian coast. But a separate coastal profile was drawn up by Johan Nessel, based on Jonck‟s observations of the coast. This is far more striking. The profile, known as ‘t Lant van Eendracht oft Afbeelding van’t Zuytlandt, [Images of the Land of Eendracht of the Southland] was produced in 1658 and is held by the Algemeen Rijksarchief in the Netherlands.

‘t Lant van Eendracht oft Afbeelding van’t Zuytlandt Johan Nessel (1658), Algemeen Rijksarchief

It laid out with north to the left and shows the coast north of Perth. The elevations in the landscape are not in true proportion as the coast here is actually relatively low and featureless. Reefs extending out from the coast can be seen (the stipled areas), then some of low coastal limestone cliffs (usually no more than 10 m high) overlooking the beach (the brown ridges) with scrub covered dunal ridges, which can be up to 80-100 metres high, in the background.

If you look carefully, at the northern end (left side) there are two Aboriginal habitations depicted.

Aboriginal (Juat) Dwellings 1658

The representation of these dwellings is fanciful and not typical of the type of habitations the Juat actually made. Their inclusion reflects the fact that a landing party from the Emeloort had an amicable meeting with some of the Juat.

Although Nessel‟s and Volkersen‟s coastal profiles were intended to guide those who followed, they are in effect the first European landscapes of the Australian mainland, and the first attempt at depicting Aboriginal habitations.

Rupert Gerritsen

Hydro 2011 – Fremantle, Western Australia

It is hard to imagine a nicer location to hold a conference than the classy Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle in WA. You can smell the sea, virtually only a stone’s throw away, just beyond a picturesque little park. And you can see the famous Shipwrecks Gallery, home to what remains of the Tryall (1622) and the Batavia (1629), from the verandah, just up the street.

But, to the conference. The conference is put on by the International Federation of Hydrographic Societies [IFHS], member bodies taking turns to host. This year we, as the Australasian Hydrographic Society, were the host. But it was WA Region, ably led by AHS President and Chair of the WA Region, Alec Millett, who shouldered the burden.

AHS President Alec Millett Addressing the Conference Dinner (Photo: Ron Furness)

The conference was structured in such a way that each day began with keynote speakers and then split into two concurrent thematic streams covering a range of topics. Among the keynote speakers were luminaries such as the Australian Hydrographer, Commodore Rod Nairn, and Ted Graham AM. Ted‟s presentation on the discovery of the HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran was particularly moving, and a fine example of hydrography serving a higher social purpose.

Social issues and trends came up again in Captain Allan Gray‟s address, “A Master Mariner‟s Perspective” and Daniel Kruimel‟s “Social Media: A new wave movement in Hydrography.” I also found Lindsay Gee‟s presentation, “The Future of Hydrographic Applications”, quite exciting, as it opened a window on some of the possibilities of doing things in ways previously undreamed of.

Peter Reynders and I were there for the History stream of course, as we were giving another paper on the Freycinet map to mark the 200th anniversary of its publication. We were followed by Greg Eccleston who gave a paper on the early navigators of Bass Strait, similar to the one he gave at the Freycinet Map Symposium in Canberra in June. It was another opportunity for Greg to show off his remarkable map, perhaps the longest map I have ever seen.

Our session concluded with Adjunct Professor Dr Mike McCarthy, Curator of Maritime Archaeology with the WA Museum, giving his presentation, “The Great Southland: Resolving and Ancient Mystery.” This was a grand tour of the historical cartography and early Australia maritime history, with a cascade of striking images ancient maps and period illustrations.

Having attended Hydro 2007 in Cairns it was interesting to compare the two conferences. In 2007 history and heritage was very much the „new kid on the block‟. It was edifying to see that in the four years since, judging by the attendance at the History session and the interest shown in the activities of the Australia on the Map Division by conference participants, that the hydrographic community has well and truly embraced hydrographic history and heritage. It was this realisation that made Hydro 2011 such a satisfying experience for me.

Rupert Gerritsen

Search for Buried Shipwrecks in Bunbury Commences

The city of Bunbury in Western Australia, situated on Koombana Bay, about 175 km south of Perth, has seen many ships wrecked there over the years. There have been at least 28, but only 12 of the wreck sites are known. The first to come to grief was an American whaler, the Samuel Wright in 1840.

In 2009 ground penetrating radar was used in a survey of the waterfront and two anomalies were revealed underneath a car park on Koombana Drive. One is believed to be the Samuel Wright, the other, also an American whaler, the North America, which sank in 1843. Excavations have commenced at the site and wreck material has already been found. The excavations are being undertaken by students from Flinders University and the University of Western Australia, and staff from the WA Museum Maritime Archaeology Department.

Michael Gregg with part of one of the wrecks (Photo: Carpark Whalers Image Gallery)

Go to http://www.carparkwhalers.com/site/ for up to date information and more pictures.

Rupert Gerritsen

Members welcome

Meetings of the Australia on the Map Division Council are open to all AOTM members who can and would like to attend. Meetings are held on the first Friday of the month, at 1.30pm in the Brindabella Room of the National Library of Australia in Canberra.

Contacts

How to contact the AOTM Division

For more Australia on the Map Division, Australasian Hydrographic Society information go to the AOTM Chair: Rupert Gerritsen website, Email: [email protected] www.australia onthemap.org.au Secretary: Peter Reynders Email: [email protected] Map Matters Editor: Frank Geurts Email: [email protected]

©2011 Australia on the Map Division, Australasian Hydrographic Society.