Museum of Lands, Mapping & Surveying
The Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying provides easy access to heritage information about Queensland's land, surveying and mapping history. It is managed by the Department of Environment and Resource Management and is part of the larger state-wide Queensland Museum.
- About the museum
- Mapping and surveying history
- Mapping and surveying Information
- Contacts and operating hours
The department also has a Virtual Museum.
About the museum
Since opening in 1982 by former curator and historian Bill Kitson, the museum has grown to include items that capture the history of the early surveying days.
Current displays provide a range of topics including:
- the survey of the Jondaryan Base Line 1883
- astronomy
- calculations
- prominent surveyors - Clarendon Stuart and Alfred Arthur Hull
- artwork and poetry by Queensland surveyors and cartographers
- surveying and mapping instruments
The museum's collection includes:
- over 9000 photographs and slides
- reference material relating to mapping, surveying and land
- material relating to World War II surveyors and cartographers
- material relating to the surveying of the borders of Queensland
- material relating to the Geodetic Survey 1883-93
- surveying and cartographic instruments including pantographs from the 1880s, T.H. Jensen's set of rules and Herbert Mackay's theodolite
- complete set of rules and regulations for Crown Surveyors from 1848
- complete set of the serial The Queensland Surveyor, 1900-27
- Alfred Arthur Hull's sketchbook
- illustrated surveyors' work box
- cartographic sketchbook covering the period 1880s to 1900s
- A.C. Gregory's (Queensland's first Surveyor General) original Queensland Institute of Surveyors' Certificate
The Virtual Museum also provides information concerning historical artefacts and records.
Search for historical maps, photography and publications in the online Resource Centre.
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Mapping and surveying history
Surveying and mapping are fundamental activities that provide a strong information infrastructure to enable a strong economy and a sustainable environment. These professions have ensured that Queensland has prospered through agriculture, mining, tourism and many other industries.
Queensland has been surveyed and mapped by Indigenous peoples since the beginning of human habitation of the Australian continent. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples developed an intimate knowledge of the land and its environment and unique forms of Indigenous cartography.
In more recent times, early European explorers and surveyors have been recognised for establishing roads, railways and land boundary networks.
Present day surveyors, cartographers and spatial scientists have further surveyed and mapped Queensland. They have moulded the social and economic infrastructure from these early foundations for the present day Queensland community.
Maps and charts intrude into the very fabric of peoples' lives, whether or not they are aware of it. Our society does not build, bury, move or plan, travel, navigate, teach, exploit, conserve or research without a map or chart. Cartography 1991
Former curator, Bill Kitson at the entrance to the Queensland Museum of Lands Mapping and Surveying. View more images inside the museum.
Due to the historical importance of the surveying and mapping industry to the development of Queensland, the virtual museum provides a valuable resource for a wider range of community interests.
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Mapping and surveying Information
Mapping information
Much of the mapping content on the virtual museum was sourced from an unpublished work titled Mapping Queensland, by Mr Des Diggles, a former DERM staff member. His work was largely compiled from the works of Duffy, L. (1971), 'A History of Mapping in the Survey Office, Queensland', Survey Office, Department of Lands, Brisbane.
Surveying information
A book titled Surveying Queensland 1839-1945, A Pictorial History, by Bill Kitson and Judith McKay was launched in December, 2006.
If you wish to comment or provide feedback, email the museum.
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Contacts and operating hours
Operating hours - free entry
Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
The museum is not open on public holidays
Level 1, Landcentre building
Corner of Main and Vulture streets
Woolloongabba, Brisbane
Phone: (07) 3896 3000
Email: Museum of Lands Mapping and Surveying
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Last updated: 04 August 2009