ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS B 444 Johanna Skurnik MAKING GEOGRAPHIES The Circulation of British Geographical Knowledge of Australia, 1829-1863 Johanna Skurnik Painosalama Oy, Turku , Finland 2017 Turku Painosalama Oy, ISBN 978-951-29-6990-6 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-6991-3 (PDF) TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA – ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS Sarja - ser. B osa - tom. 444 | Humaniora | Turku 2017 ISSN 0082-6987 (PRINT) | ISSN 2343-3191 (ONLINE) MAKING GEOGRAPHIES The Circulation of British Geographical Knowledge of Australia, 1829-1863 Johanna Skurnik TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJA – ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS Sarja - ser. B osa - tom. 444 | Humaniora | Turku 2017 University of Turku Faculty of Humanities School of History, Culture and Arts Studies Department of European and World History Doctoral programme Juno Supervised by Professor Leila Koivunen Professor Taina Syrjämaa University of Turku University of Turku Reviewed by Professor Raymond B. Craib Professor David Lambert Cornell University University of Warwick Opponent Professor Raymond B. Craib Cornell University Layout and cover design: Johanna Skurnik Cover images: Arrowsmith, John. 1858. Australia from surveys made by order of the British Government combined with those of D’Entrecasteaux, Baudin, Freycinet &c.&c. National Library of Australia. Gill, Samuel Thomas. 1846. Country NW of tableland, Aug. 22. National Library of Australia. Eyre, Edward J. 1846. “Considerations Against the Supposed Existence of a Great Sea in the Interior of Australia”. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 16, p. 200. Minute by Richard C. Hall 25 January 1861, f. 207, CO 18/119. The National Archives. The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. ISBN 978-951-29-6990-6 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-6991-3 (PDF) ISSN 0082-6987 (PRINT) ISSN 2343-3191 (PDF) Painosalama Oy – Turku, Finland 2017 Contents Abstract v Abstrakti vii List of Illustrations ix List of Abbrevations x Acknowledgements xi INTRODUCTION 1 Previous Research and Theoretical Starting Points for a Study on the Formation of Geographical Knowledge 5 Approaching Australia: Previous Research on Knowledge-Producing Enterprizes 5 Circulation, Processual Map History and Knowledge-Making 15 Questions and the Scope of Research 23 Material, Methods and Concepts 26 Material 26 Methods 28 Concepts 31 The Circuits of the Study 32 1 A SYSTEM OF KNOWING 34 Desks and Offices: Places of Knowledge-Work Across the Globe 35 Introducing and Evaluating Geographical Discoveries 35 Reading and Taking Minutes at the Colonial Office 53 Maps of Australia on the Move 65 Colonial Developments Captured on Maps 65 Circulating Maps, Accumulating Cartographic Archives 84 Chapter Conclusions 97 2 TWO CIRCUITS OF PUBLISHING GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE IN LONDON 99 Parliamentary and Public Geographies 100 The Conglomeration and Compilation of Texts for Parliamentary Papers 100 Maps of Australia in the Parliamentary Papers 112 The RGS as an Outlet for Geographical Knowledge 120 Supplying Information and Loaning Maps 120 Communicating Geographical Knowledge 136 Chapter Conclusions 154 3 CONTINGENT CARTOGRAPHIES: JOHN ARROWSMITH MAPS AUSTRALIA 157 “A useful and cheap ally of ours” 158 Filling the Blanks? Constructing the Australian Environment on Maps 171 Mapping North Australia: Constructing Territories on Maps 195 Chapter Conclusions 225 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 227 Bibliography 236 v Abstract UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Faculty of Humanities School of History, Culture and Arts Studies European and World History SKURNIK, JOHANNA: Making Geographies. The Circulation of British Geographies of Aus- tralia, 1829–1863 Doctoral Dissertation, 270 pages Doctoral Programme Juno, November 2017 This study is concerned with the challenging question of how British geographies of Aus- tralia were made in the mid-nineteenth century. It examines the processes and practices that constituted the analysis, movement and use of the enormous amount of information produced by British explorations and surveys of the Australian continent. The study focuses on the period between 1829-1863, when the interior of the continent was explored and settlements expanded at a rapid rate. The study focuses on the roles of the following actors in Great Britain and the Australian colonies: The Colonial Office, official establishments overseen by governors in the colonies, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and the car- tographer John Arrowsmith (1790–1873). The material examined consists of the official cor- respondence between the Colonial Office and the governors of the colonies, and other cor- respondence, printed material, and manuscript and printed maps that were prepared in the Australian colonies and in Great Britain by different actors. The research is conducted by investigating the processes of knowledge-making with methodological tools used in the history of knowledge and processual map history. These include the analytical tool of ‘circulation’ and examining the processes that constituted the production, movement and use of maps. In practice, the study is conducted by (1) examin- ing the manuscript material (maps, texts) alongside the printed and published material and (2) by examining the material relating to their circulation and use, such as minutes, anno- tations and marginalia. In sum, the research findings demonstrate how the snippets of information produced by different individuals gained the power to define the continent by being circulated. These developments, which took place in the mid-nineteenth century, were rooted in the social vi processes that occurred in different, interconnected locations. The main findings and im- plications of this study include: (1) The production of British geographies of Australia was a spatio-temporal process, as the location of knowledge-work and the pace at which ma- terial became available in different locations influenced the type of knowledge formed by the actors; (2) Geographical knowledge of Australia was achieved through chains of knowledge brokers in different locations. Pieces of information were mediated and trans- formed in the hands of numerous different actors into geographical knowledge; (3) Inter- textuality and multi-modality contributed to the production of geographical knowledge, whereby maps and text had co-constitutive roles in the process; (4) John Arrowsmith was a key individual in the process of mapping Australia. This was due to his strong relationship with the Colonial Office, the RGS and Australian explorers; (5) The processual approach is productive when studying the history of knowledge and this work encourages the use of archival material in order to examine the processes of knowledge-making. This study en- courages the further application of this method, especially in relation to studies aiming to understand how knowledge was formed and how structures of knowledge were estab- lished in different locations. Keywords Administration, Australia, British Empire, Bureaucracy, Cartography, Circulation, Civil servants, Colonial surveying, Colonialism, Exploration, Explorers, Geographical knowledge, Geography, Great Britain, History of cartography, His- tory of knowledge, History, Imperialism, John Arrowsmith, Maps, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, The Colonial Office, The nineteenth century, The Royal Geographical Society, Victoria, Western Australia. vii Abstrakti TURUN YLIOPISTO Humanistinen tiedekunta Historian, kulttuurin ja taiteiden tutkimuksen laitos Yleinen historia SKURNIK, JOHANNA: Making Geographies. The Circulation of British Geographical Knowledge of Australia, 1829–1863 Väitöskirja, 270 sivua Tohtoriohjelma Juno, marraskuu 2017 Väitöskirjassani tutkin Australiaa koskevan maantieteellisen tiedon muodostamista 1800- luvun keskimmäisinä vuosikymmeninä eli ajankohtana, jolloin britit enenevässä määrin asuttivat mannerta. Tutkin käytäntöjä ja prosesseja, joiden tuloksena tutkimusmatkojan ja kartoittamisen tuloksena tuotettua Australian mannerta koskevaa informaatiota analysoi- tiin, välitettiin eri paikkoihin ja käytettiin. Tutkimukseni keskittyy vuosien 1829–1863 väli- seen ajanjaksoon, jolloin mantereen sisäosia tutkittiin intensiivisesti ja eri puolille mannerta perustetut siirtokunnat laajenivat kiihtyvällä vauhdilla. Tarkastelen erityisesti seuraavia toi- mijoita Australian siirtokunnissa ja Britanniassa: Britannian siirtomaaministeriö, siirtokun- tien kuvernöörit, Lontoossa toiminut Royal Geographical Society ja kartografi John Arrows- mith (1790–1873). Tutkimuksessa käytetyt aineistot koostuvat kirjeenvaihdosta, paine- tuista materiaaleista, käsikirjoituskartoista ja painetuista kartoista, joita eri toimijat tuotti- vat Britanniassa ja Australian siirtokunnissa. Toteutan tutkimukseni rekonstruoimalla tiedon liikkumisen ja tuottamiseen prosesseja. Tutkimukseni menetelmät yhdistävät työkaluja tiedon historiasta ja kartografian histori- asta. Käytän analyysin välineenä tiedon liikkuvuttaa kuvaavaa käsitettä sirkulaatiota ja tut- kin karttoja niiden tuottamisen, liikkumisen ja käyttämisen prosessien osana. Käytännössä toteutan tutkimukseni 1) lukemalla ristiin käsikirjoitusaineistoja (kartat, tekstit) painettujen ja julkaistujen materiaalien kanssa ja 2) tutkimalla aineistoja, jotka kertovat eri tekstien ja karttojen liikkumisesta ja käytöstä, kuten muistiinpanoja ja marginaalimerkintöjä. Tutkimukseni tulokset osoittavat kuinka tiedon osat saivat merkityksensä