Tag Archives: map

I was horrified to learn that maps may contain deliberate errors

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In January this year, the story that cartographers make deliberate errors made me catch my breath.   You can read it in full here.

As long term readers of this blog will know from an earlier post, to walk from the mouth to the source of the Derwent River has required me to work across 17 maps.  Because they were generated by a government agency I would like to believe they were accurate at the time of printing.

While my maps are scaled at 1:25,000 (I always wished they were finer in detail), I depended on them as much as I could. I registered that many were grossly out of date – too many were last printed in the 1990s and so I was cautious with my expectations. However I never once thought that a deliberate error might have been introduced.

For walkers like myself, trekking independently great distances from help and civilisation, having accurate maps seems a sensible requirement.  Many readers will know that I always check with Google Earth imagery but again they are out of date – although not as old as some of the official maps I was using.  I was fortunate to be flown in a small aircraft up and back along the Derwent so the photos taken contributed to understanding what the land was like below.

In recent days I have been horrified to learn that the Tasmanian State Government will never print further copies of the 1:25,000 scale maps and the common map for purchase in the future will be 1:100,000.  People get lost in our dense bush, and some have died after wandering around for days. From a public safety perspective for tourists and locals who want to make their own way into our bush, where tracks are non-existent and using a compass and a map is the only means of knowing where you are, I am somewhat fearful for people in the future.

The euphoria continues

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Yesterday a friend An drove me up along the Derwent River where we stopped off at a few dams, power stations and lakes. I was studying the terrain at ground level (our most recent Service Tasmania maps are aged and Google Earth photos are not current either), seeing where forestry and hydro tracks existed and determining where I will need to make my way through bush ‘with walls’. I can see a line of fiction here – turning an almost impassable density of bush into a character (an evil character – even though the bush is sublimely beautiful and bountiful) that has to be overcome.  My strategy will be as always, one slow step at a time and then the bush won’t even know I have come and gone (although my muscles will).

I walked some small sections yesterday, but I won’t write them up until I have walked in the areas westwards from Gretna to those sections.  I know now that it is difficult for some local readers to understand where I have been and therefore, if I change the blog posts from being a chronological record, it may be even more unclear.  Besides, by writing the stories in order and finishing with the last walk to the source it will be clear I have walked the Derwent.

Yesterday explorations and walks were as uplifting as the previous day’s flight; it was as equally wonderful, just different.  I feel gushy with delight when I am in the bush on a blue sky day, with no wind, and with a temp that rises sufficiently but not so that I boil.  Once I am sitting on rocks in the river bed with my lunch, listening to the birds, and sensing the spirit of the place, my life feels so right.  This is the place for me.

Then, despite the day’s experiences already being a treat, life added a new wonderful surprise.  Recently one of my blog followers, Justy, alerted me to the fact she and her partner were engaged in creating a new work of art for GASP beside the Derwent River at Glenorchy, a city in the Greater Hobart Area.  As part of their project, they had already walked along the Derwent River in Cumbria, England and now were planning to walk from the sea to the source of the Derwent early next year.  I hadn’t met them and only communicated a few times by email.  But yesterday, as An drove me towards Cluny Dam, I saw two women step from their car.  I waved and smiled as you do on a country road. As we drove on, I said to An “I bet they’re the two women who are engaged in the GASP project, out conducting a reconnaissance trip”. There was no reason to believe this except I felt I knew it to be the truth (the bush works its miracles). Nevertheless we continued on and had parked near the northern end of Cluny Lagoon when the two women drove past us. Again we waved. On a later road we found ourselves coming towards each other from opposite directions, so An waved them to a stop. The women looked at us queryingly. “Are either of you Justy or Margaret? we asked.” “Yes”, they responded. Instantly I called out, “I’m Helen”.  Their nod of acknowledgement followed. And then we all poured out of our cars, and hugged and had a lively chat standing on a dusty road in strong Spring sunlight. It was a brilliant unexpected meeting and capped off what had been a day of immense discovery and pleasure.

Best wishes for your project Justy and Margaret!

Theatre Royal, Hobart – proximity to the Derwent River

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The Theatre Royal located on Campbell St Hobart was built in 1834 and is the earliest theatre built in Australia that is still fully operational today – each week the Theatre Royal stages various events: theatre, dance, musicals, opera, eisteddfods, music concerts or comedy. After a disastrous fire in 1984, the building was restored to its former glory and its delightful small but grand interior is now well worth a visit.  Guided tours are on offer during the day.

Theatre-Royal-67902

But what does the Theatre Royal have to do with the Derwent River you may wonder.

Firstly, it is located only a stone’s throw from the Hobart Rivulet that flows into the Derwent River. The Hobart Rivulet was the source of fresh water to the first settlers in Sullivans Cove (a bay in the Derwent River) in the years after they established the colony in 1804. Picking up the crystal clear waters from flows on Mount Wellington, the Hobart Rivulet wound its way through the early ‘Hobarton’ and these days it continues to flow under much of the current city of Hobart.

Secondly, the early shores of the Derwent River were further inland in the early 19th century than today. Considerable land fill has been added over the past two centuries.  When the Theatre Royal was built, the Derwent River was a little closer than today.

I have entertained myself with searches for old maps of Hobart so that I could understand where the Theatre Royal was located in relation to the original foreshore.

The image of the foreshore at Sullivans Cove below was drawn in 1804 (this was the year of first settlement here). Hunter Island was on its own before it was connected to the mainland by a causeway. This island was located not far from where Campbell St (the street on which the Theatre Royal is built) was established much later. The drawing shows the extensive forests which were removed over subsequent years to make way for the streets, houses and public buildings (image from http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/images/Ocean&LNHunterIs1804img141.jpg

Ocean&LNHunterIs1804img141 Hunter island 1804

The site http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/index.php?file=kop15.php offers the opinion ‘It is hard to imagine what Hobart Town would have been like when Lt. Gov. Collins arrived in 1804.  The rivulet ran free, (except when it rained heavily sending logs that blocked the rivulet, sending water spilling across its banks) large gum trees stood on both sides of the rivulet, some of which had to be cut down to make room for the new settlement.‘  The drawing below, made by George P Harris in 1805 or 1806, seems to look across Hobarton from what today is referred to as the Domain.  I think Harris employed a great deal of creativity when making the picture because the Mount Nelson Signal Station looms large on the distant hill yet it could not realistically have been that height.  

HobartTown1821closeup2-tasfamily.net.auschafferi

Below, the 1811 town layout has an overlay of our contemporary streetscape (from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-24/footsteps-towards-freedom-art-project-begins/6251596).  If you can locate the intersection of Campbell St and Collins St, then you can appreciated that the yet to be built Theatre Royal will be sited a few metres along Campbell St (on the block at the top side of the letter E of Street). You can appreciate how close this is to the Rivulet and to the Derwent River.

1811 -abc

George Evans lithograph of 1819 below shows how little progress had been made in terms of new buildings and street construction 15 years after settlement ( http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-22/1819-slnsw-south-west-view-of-hobart-town-1819-george-william-e/5689410)

George Evans South west view of Hobart town

By 1832 significant developments had been made to Hobarton .  The map below (from http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/180.php) was made two years before the Theatre Royal was built.  Can you locate Campbell St?  Once found, can you see the thick black line that crosses it – that line is the Hobart Rivulet? The future location for the new theatre was a couple of house blocks away from the intersection between the street and the rivulet.  Looking at the shoreline with the Derwent River, already it is clear land has been reclaimed along the edge; the shape is manmade and the landscape no longer flows naturally.

180_TN.IMAGE3 1832 hobart

On the Proeschel map below (with the hand writing at the top of the map indicating 1858), locate the intersection of Collins and Campbell Streets.  Nearby, the Theatre Royal is listed as Public Edifice number 23 (from http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=879658)

Map_and_select_directory_of_Hobart_Town

In Jarman’s map of Hobart Town (http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=573294 indicates the date for this is 1858, although if the Proeschel map’s date is correct then the differences are too marked for this to be correct. More research required.), the end of Collins St has been modified so that two streets are located one either side of the Rivulet (black rectangle above Collins St is the Theatre Royal).

Hobart Town

A woodcut map of 1879 by A C Cooke (from http://catalogue.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/item/?id=94421) gives a bird’s eye view of Hobart Town. On the lower right, the large watery dock can be seen intruding into the townscape. At the top end of this water is the large City Hall with Campbell St on its right hand side. Immediately behind the City Hall is Collins St.  Therefore the Theatre Royal is located on the right hand side of Campbell St a little above Collins St.

_Hobart_Town____A_C__Cooke__delt

The area around the Hobart Rivulet routinely flooded the streets after heavy rains in the 19th and early 20th centuries (substantial new drainage systems now prevents such occurrences). The photo below (from http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage/browse/exhibitions/hobartrivulet/diversions-and-floods/image-3) was taken after a flood in the 1920s. We are looking back towards the centre of Hobart Town along the Hobart Rivulet. The large curved roof at the right of the photograph is the top of the Theatre Royal and, therefore, the first bridge in the distance which crosses over the Rivulet will distinguish Campbell Street.

Floods-NS869-1-497 1920s rivulet end of Collins

The photo below (http://www.linc.tas.gov.au/tasmaniasheritage/browse/exhibitions/hobartrivulet/diversions-and-floods/image-2) was taken during flooding in the 1930s.  The building on the right hand side is the City Hall which still functions as such today.  The road to the right of the flooding Rivulet is Collins St and people are standing on Campbell St above the Rivulet.  Therefore, the Theatre Royal is just out of shot to the left from where people are standing watching the torrent.

flood1 1930s flooding rivulet near theatre royal

Leo Schofield’s short-lived but internationally renowned Hobart Baroque festival lit up the Theatre Royal with spectacular performances.

Theatre-Royal-Hobart  seated people

Our Theatre Royal was located for easy public access 180 odd years ago, and the site continues to attract crowds easily. A new performing arts centre will be built next door over the next couple of years.  The Tasmanian Art School is located close by in Hunter St adjacent to the wharves and jetties jutting into the Derwent River. It fits with history to develop an artistic precinct near the water.

Where am I when I am on my walks? “Give me a map”, many cry.

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Some readers have despaired for the lack of a running map which shows precisely the tracks where I have walked. I and others continue to try and solve the problem.

Meanwhile, for those who are unaware, I do create a location map with each posting. The map is static and simply pinpoints one place but at least it is a guide to where I was during that leg of the walk.  Sometimes if a location is not within Google maps then I cannot show it as the main location. For example I wanted to include a map with the McCarthy’s Point location but was limited to the two bays either side. This was problematic when the posting had nothing directly to do with the bays either side – but I chose one just to give readers a guide. When I want to pinpoint the Derwent River, the map highlights the southern suburb of Kingston.  Ahhhh I sigh.

There is another unfortunate matter. I now realise that those readers who are ‘followers’ by automatic email do not get direct access to that location map. For interested readers, when you receive the email you need to click onto the heading of the posting and this will take you to the website.  At the bottom of the posting on the website is a link which you click to open the map.

I realise that this is a tedious and tiresome process, but it may help some readers to orient themselves better.