#historicalmapping — Public Fediverse posts

I made a personal research database of art works and historical events as part of my #S_T_Gill project. It allows for testing of theories and conclusions. It also generates (html) material for the project webpages and content for the digital maps.

The database evolved over years and was more about making progress than good design. I wasn't happy with it. So this year I've been redeveloping it from scratch with a view that it could be used again, by me or some other researcher.

https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/about.htm#Approach

#catalogueRaisonne #historicalMapping #digitalHumanities

I've added to my map of Horrocks 1846 expedition (Flinders Ranges, Clare Valley) with a secondary map layer of #S_T_Gill's retrospectives. The primary layer mostly contains 33 watercolours finished just after the expedition. I used the secondary layer for research but now make it public. Follow any of the map links in this article to take you to the map. #SouthAustralia #uMap #historicalMapping

https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_and_Horrocks_Retrospectives.htm

As is his custom Tim @wragge Sherratt undersells (above) what he's done.

He's programmatically geolocated "18,603 out of 20,644 photos" digitised by #StateLibraryVIC.

Tim: "When I started working on the collection I wasn’t really sure what was possible." So he learnt, tried, adapted, all with a goal in mind. Tim has an uncommon mind and set of skills. And uncommon productivity. His article is easy to read - if needed one can skim the more technical detail. Tim documents his methods to be shared.

#digitalHumanities #historicalMapping #OpenStreetMap #heritageAU #ozGLAM

Tim's blog post: https://updates.timsherratt.org/2026/01/29/geolocating-photos-from-the-slvs.html

(3/3) Read about #historicalMapping in the #S_T_Gill project (with extra 1840s #SouthAustralia maps) and how I developed them: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_in_Maps.htm

(2/3) Map of #S_T_Gill's 1852 scenes of the gold diggings in Victoria, Australia - at least the readily mappable ones. Built in OpenStreetMap's #uMap with #AllMaps tiles for custom background. #historicalMapping #historyAU
Online map: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/s-t-gill-victorian-diggings_1079116

Years ago I started with just this scrap piece of paper and sketched these main #Adelaide intersections in the 1840s.
This evolved into digital #historicalMapping using #uMap (which makes all the work look easy) and #mapWarper. I've now geolocated 257 works with latitude, longitude and view bearing.
I recently added the Victorian diggings 1852 to the maps.

Search the list of mapped works: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/index_of_works.htm#Mapped
Read about the maps in the #S_T_Gill project and how I developed them: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_in_Maps.htm
#historyAU #digitalHumanities

In 1851 George French Angas went from Sydney to the NSW gold diggings via the Blue Mountains. This map shows his sketches along the way and corrects the dating on these drawings in #NationalLibraryAU collection. (This map was a side activity in the #S_T_Gill project.) #historyAU #historyNSW #historicalMapping

Online map: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/angas-1851-nsw-diggings_802983

#Coffee and breakfast sorted!

6 miles from the Bush Inn on the road from #Melbourne to the diggings (1852): https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/s-t-gill-melbourne-to-the-diggings_800099?feature=Coffee%20Tent%206%20m%20from%20Bush%20Inn,%20Diggers%20Breakfast%20|%20SLV%20H7824#11/-37.557/144.654

#historicalMapping #uMap #TroveAU #1850s #S_T_Gill

We deeply appreciate all the help that @greeninfo provided over the years. We look forward to spending an unprecedented 2026 with the #HistoricalMapping and @OpenStreetMapUS communities.

#StateLibraryNSW has a surprisingly large number of South Australian colonial artworks. I've finished updating SLNSW links to their new catalogue from my #S_T_Gill project. This includes my maps of 1840s #SouthAustralia and #Adelaide which are now practically complete. Mapping using #uMap (OpenStreetMap).

#historyAU #historicalMapping #digitalHumanities

https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_in_Maps.htm

Interested in #Melbourne and regional #VictoriaAU built heritage? Then do check out @wragge's digital mapping of 1970s Committee for Urban Action (CUA) photographs from the #StateLibraryVIC collection. Currently includes inner Melbourne suburbs and goldfields towns. Zoom in, click on a street! #historicalMapping

https://slv.wraggelabs.com/cua/

My #artHistory project already links catalogue entries to map locations where known. But it was only zooming in to location and pin. I've now incorporated #uMap permalinks to also popup the artwork information panel. I also do this for the address of the artist's studios. #historicalMapping #S_T_Gill

For example, see: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_1847.htm which has studio location and location of "Floraville" view.

@wragge @IIIF ⬆️ also #historicalMapping

Invention for four colour (map) printing - blue, yellow, red, black - now our CYMK. #historicalMapping #1840s William Clowes, London

The "sheet of pure white drawing paper is ... perfectly unconscious of the impending fate that awaits it"!

Read news: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71614989

In the 1980s Ralph Grandison was mapping #S_T_Gill's artworks in #SouthAustralia. I recently viewed in the State Library his 1991 paper on Gill's 1844 #Barossa works. Interestingly he's included many of "The Seasons and The Months" - see image snippet. Clearly he didn't accept Appleyard & Radford's 1986 redating of these from 1847 to 1840-42. #artHistoryAU #colonialArtAU #historicalMapping

Over the next few months, I'll need to supplement my earlier work with Grandison's insights at: https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_The_Seasons_and_The_Months.htm

@skatercat ⬆️ #historicalMapping on brick wall!

Welcome to my project on arguably Australia's most recognisable colonial artist, Samuel Thomas Gill. It's a blend of #catalogueRaisonné, biography, historical narrative and map atlas. The scope is from Gill's arrival in #SouthAustralia in 1839 up to his early time at the Victorian gold diggings in 1852-53.

Project update: Six articles on the diggings are now complete except for pending visits to Sydney and Adelaide to check on some undigitised sources. Good progress on at least two articles for 1839-1844 gap.

Later this year I'll write some more reflective material and some of particular interest post 1853.

You can follow the hashtag #S_T_Gill for updates - you don't need to follow me.

#historyAU #1840s #1850s #VictoriaAU #colonialArtAU #historicalMapping #catalogueRaisonne #biography
https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill

Historical Adelaide Maps

I'm setting free my #TroveAU lists of historical #Adelaide maps by changing them from private to public view. Originally for my research, I now make them publicly available for what they're worth. (This material found more mature realisation in interactive maps and related map articles on my website.) #historicalMapping

Adelaide City, District and County Maps, 1837 to 1851+ https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/130558

1842 Kingston Map of Adelaide, CWC prints and James Allen's "South Australian News-Letter" https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/125895