Library Guides: Geospatial (GIS), Maps & Aerial Photography resources: Historical Maps

Some historical maps of Melbourne in the Map Collection

This is not an exhaustive list of digitalised map series. Many more are available on the Digital Repository. The full collection of 140,000 hardcopy items can be requested located for use in the Special Collections Reading Room. For further assistance contact the Map Collection

University of Melbourne Digitalised Map Collection Repository
Digitalised historical items from the University of Melbourne - Library Map Collection
Sands & McDougall's Melbourne Directory maps, 1868-1960
Sands & McDougall Directory maps are useful for looking at the broad development of Melbourne
Mahlstedt's Melbourne fire insurance plans. 1877 – 1962
University of Melbourne Archives. [1961.0017] Records of Mahlstedts Vic. Pty Ltd
City of Melbourne - Fire insurance plans 1924-25
Shows streets, buildings, and internal details. Lists building occupiers, building materials, fire protection facilities. Amendments pasted onto original pages
Melway Melbourne Street Directories 1966-1999
Digitalised historical editions of the Melway Street Directory from 1st edition 1966 until 1999 and made available under direct license from Melway Publishing Pty Ltd
Melbourne Board of Works 1st series, 1":160ft [1:1,920], 1894-1953
These MMBW plans were use for the design and development of Melbourne's sewerage and drainage system
Melbourne Board of Works 2nd survey, 1":160ft.,1955-1970
Hardcopy. Shows streets, railway lines and property boundaries. Some sheets also show contours.
Melbourne MMBW 1960-61 1:9600
Digitalised. Melbourne Board of Works maps 1":800ft
Melbourne Board of Works 3rd series, 1:5,000 1977-80s
Hardcopy in three scales. Includes property boundaries, large public buildings and 1m contours for the whole of the city
Melbourne CBD 1970s MMBW 1:500 maps
Digitalised. Shows property boundaries, building footprints and other infrastructure details

Some texts about Melbourne in the Map Collection

UniMelb Map Collection Articles
Articles about items in the UniMelb Library Map Collection

Melbourne : the city's history and development by Miles Lewis
Call Number: 994.51 LEWI
ISBN: 0949624888
Publication Date: 1995
A historical overview of the foundation of Melbourne and the creation and growth of the Melbourne City Council.
The making of Melbourne in maps by Jeff Leeuwenburg
Call Number: 912.9451 LEEU
ISBN: 0582873525
Publication Date: 1987
Historical maps and plans spanning 1836-1930 illustrating the development and growth of Melbourne.
The Encyclopedia of Melbourne by Andrew Brown-May (Editor); Shurlee Swain (Associate Editor, Editor)
Call Number: 994.51003 BROW
ISBN: 0521842344
Publication Date: 2005-09-19
The Encyclopedia of Melbourne reflects and encompasses the city's history.

How to search and request hardcopy items from the Map Collection

The Map Collection maintains all hardcopy topographic map series covering Victoria released by local vendors and map makers. These are all catalogued and can be searched for via the library catalogue limiting to titles in the Map Collection:

Request items for viewing in the Baillieu Library Special Collections Reading Room
Requests for duplication or copying services should be discussed with Map Collection staff.

Historical maps of Victoria

Pubic Record Office Victoria - Researching Land and Property
The Public Record Office Victoria is the archives of the State Government of Victoria. Research individual building to large set of historic cartographic items.
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) - Land & Property
The records we hold about individual blocks of land mostly relate to their ownership over time. We also hold records about land transactions between private individuals and companies.
Historical Planning Schemes - PROV
Collection of maps for Victoria 1836-1984 previous maintained by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey
State Library of Victoria - Map Collection
Australian maps, especially those covering Victoria, are the main focus of this collection, though the Library also has many maps from overseas.
Melbourne street directories (1912-1952) [Beta. Slow to load]
From the State Library of Victoria
State Library of Victoria - Victoria's early history, 1803-1851
A guide to researching the history of Victoria's foundation and early settlement based on published and digitised sources.
State Library of Victoria - Maps for local history
A guide to using maps to aid your Victorian local history research.
State Library of Victoria - Maps for family history
This guide focuses on using the SLV maps collection, and on researching Victorian family history, including immigration to Victoria.
List of Victorian Historical Societies
List maintained by Royal Historical Society of Victoria
Victorian Cultual Hegitage Register
Find out about how our cultural heritage places and objects are protected.
Royal Historical Society of Victoria
A community organisation committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria
Victorian Places
This is a website containing the history of all the places in Victoria (Australia) that have now or once had a population
On using maps for building research in Victoria - Miles Lewis
Souces and thinking when researching the history of places and building in Victoria

Sites about maps from around the world

Old maps online
A search engine for historical maps. The easy-to-use getaway to historical maps major libraries from around the world
David Rumsey Map Collection
The historical map collection has over 123,000 maps and images online focusing on North and South American cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.
Map History : History of Cartography / Tony Campbell
Aims to be the Internet gateway for the History of Cartography.
History of Cartography Project / David Woodward
The Project treats maps as cultural artifacts created from prehistory through the twentieth century. Its major work is the multi-volume History of Cartography series.
The Sunderland Collection of digitalised maps and atlases
World maps, celestial maps, atlases and globes, from the 15th to the 19th centuries.
World War 2 Special Reports - Allied Geographical Section Southwest Pacific Area
Geographical intelligence on the largely unmapped and underexplored south-west Pacific area (SWPA).
History and Geography of Europe and the World
Euratlas is a website dedicated mainly to the historical geography of Europe.
Review and Atlas of Palaeovegetation
Preliminary land ecosystem maps of the world since the Last Glacial Maximum.
The CENTENNIA Historical Atlas
A map-based guide to the history of Europe and the Middle East from the beginning of the 11th century through the early 21st century
The Interactive Noli Map Website
The 1748 Map of Rome, by Giambattista Nolli is widely regarded by scholars as one of the most important historical documents of the city ever created.
Book of Curiosities - Bodleian Library UK
Bodleian Library acquired an illustrated manuscript, June 2002, of a hitherto unknown Arabic cosmographical treatise, the Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, Book of Curiosities. The treatise contains an unparalleled series of diagrams of the heavens and maps of the earth.
China Historical GIS
Free downloads of historical GIS data for China of populated places and historical administrative units between 221 BCE and 1911 CE.
HKUST Antique Maps of China - Hong Kong University Library
Maps of China from the late Qing Dynasty-to 1949, thread bound books and other pre-1949 Chinese material, works about China and the Far East by western writers from 1500s to 1949.
Virtual Shanghai
The Institut d’Asie Orientale has collected a large number of maps of Shanghai in the 19th-20th centuries. Includes original maps, photographic reproductions, slides and sometimes even Xerox copies.
Japan Historical GIS
Historical boundary data from the 1500s to 1800s for Japan.
Japanese Historical Maps
The Japanese Historical Map Collection contains about 2,300 early maps of Japan and the World.
Holy Land Maps
This beautiful collection of ancient maps of the Holy Land is part of a much larger collection. The National Library of Israel.
Pleiades - Historical geographic information
Pleiades has extensive coverage for the Greek & Roman world, expanding into Ancient Near Eastern, Byzantine, Celtic, and Early Medieval geography.

Map Libraries in Australian and around the world

TROVE Australia - Search Engine
Search the collections of Australian libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives.
National Library Australia Map Collection
1 million maps, from early European charts to current mapping of Australia, in print and digital form online
MapSearch - National Library of Australia
Position historical maps over current map base layers, and view or add map features.
State Library of New South Wales - Maps Collection
The State Library holds one of the most significant collections of maps in Australia, reflecting changes in cartography from the earliest charts of European navigators.
NSW State Archives and Records - Maps and Plans
Several guides to significate series of maps and plans of historical Sydney and NSW
State Library of South Australia - Maps
The State Library has a fairly comprehensive collection of maps of South Australia.
Northern Territory State Library & Archive
The library holds a large range of Northern Territory (NT) town, pastoral and regional maps in various scales as well as NT topographic & geological maps.

International Map Collections

British Library - Map Library
The British Map Library has a collection of over 4.25 million atlases, maps, globes and books on cartography with a chronological spread of over 2,000 years.
David Rumsey Map Collection
The historical map collection has over 123,000 maps and images online focusing on North and South American cartographic materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia, and Africa are also represented.
Library of Congress Digital Collections - Geography and Map Division
The largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world.
Osher Map Library
The Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education University at the University of Southern Maine (USA)
National Library of Ireland - Map Collection
The collection is predominantly Irish but there are maps which relate to Britain, Europe and the world at large.
National Library of Scotland - Map Collection
Approximately two million cartographic items, our map collection is the largest in Scotland. Our holdings cover all parts of the globe, through some 700 years.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
Maps and Atlases
Map Collection - University of Texas Libraries
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection includes more than 250,000 maps, with a many or them now digitalised.
Second half 20th Century digitalised topographic maps
University of Texas Library. 1:1million, 1:500K, 1:250K topographic maps of the world

Map Blogs

Bodleian Map Room Blog (Rare maps)
Map items of interest from the UK Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
World Revealed
A blog about maps from the U.S.A. Library of Congress
The Map Room
The Map Room is a blog about maps by Jonathan Crowe, and includes antique map collecting, exhibitions, essays, to geospatial technology.
GIS Cafe forum
GIS Cafe web site listing current events in the industry
Brilliant Maps blog
Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time
Google Earth Blog
The latest news, updates, links and downloads concerning Google Earth.
Journal of Maps
The Journal of Maps is an inter-disciplinary online, electronic, journal that aims to provide a forum for researchers to publish maps and spatial diagrams. Peer reviewed.
The Antique Maps and Prints Blog
Blog about antique maps & antique prints. News, views, announcements and discussions about the world of antique maps and antique prints.
Strange Maps
Strange Maps aims to collect and comment on maps that show the world from a different angle. Stories and thoughts.
Eastview Geospatial Blog
The latest & greatest in the geospatial industry. We are eager to share fascinating insights and thought-provoking content for our readers

Map Societies and Groups

Australian New Zealand Map Society (ANZMapS)
Promotes all aspects of cartography to a wide range of potential users. ANZMapS was created from the merger 2009, of the Australian Map Circle and New Zealand Map Society.
Mapping Sciences Institute Australia (MSIA)
A learned society established in 1952 to engender the professional development of individuals and organisations involved in the mapping sciences.
Geospatial Council of Australia
Australia's peak body representing the interests of surveying and spatial science professionals.
Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG)
The principal body representing geographers and promoting the study and application of geography in Australia.
Geological Society of Australia
A non-profit organisation established to promote, advance and support earth sciences in Australia
Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives
Representative professional group for Canadian map librarians, cartographic archivists and others interested in geographic information in all formats
Map and Geography Round Table, American Library Association (MAGERT)
The Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT) is one of 18 round tables in the American Library Association. The world's largest map library organization.
International Map Industry Association (IMIA)
Dedicated to fostering the growth of the mapping industry through the exchange of ideas and information.
Western Association of Map Libraries (WAML)
The Western Association of Map Libraries is an independent association of map librarians and other people with an interest in maps and map librarianship.
The International Map Collector's Society (IMCS)
Membership is comprised of academics, map dealers, institutions such as libraries and museums, and - of cartophiles, suffering from a potentially contagious disease, called love of maps.
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
A non-profit consensus standards organization for international geospatial and location based services.
Geoscience Information Society (GSIS)
The Geoscience Information Society (GSIS) in the USA. Geosciences among scientists, librarians, editors, cartographers, educators, and information professionals.
CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI)
CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI) is the geospatial science Community of Practice in CGIAR, supported by CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture.