Welcome to XNATMAP

A site for preserving NATMAP's (The Division of National Mapping) history and maintaining contact with the people who were part of that history.
As the Australian Landsat Station (ALS), later the Australian Centre for Remote Sensing (ACRES) was part of the Division its history also forms part of this site.
The XNATMAP site is being archived in perpetuity as part of the National Library of Australia and related State Libraries PANDORA initiative.

What's New

As of 5 February 2021

Centre's of Australia : Mathematical or Otherwise
The Lambert gravitational centre, determined in 1988, is some distance off the road between Finke and Kulgera, in the Northern Territory. In the 1930s, Dr Cecil Thomas Madigan (1889-1947) calculated the centre of gravity by using a metal cut-out of Australia with a plumb bob and string. His result was a point less than 11 kilometres due west of the Lambert centre. While the Lambert centre is recognised as being the closest to the true centre of Australia another four centres were also derived. The other four centres were the Johnston Geodetic Station, Centre of gravity, Furthest point from the coastline and Geodetic median point (co-ordinates, relevant photos and detailed maps for the above five points, may be found in this article The Centre(s) of Australia). A lesser known mathematical centre is Central Mount Stuart. Between 1844 and 1846, Captain Charles Napier Sturt (1795-1869) led a party from Adelaide in an unsuccessful attempt to reach the centre of Australia. John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866) was a member of that party and later led several expeditions in his own right. In April 1860, Stuart calculated by survey observations that he had reached the centre of the continent at a point about 210 kilometres north of Alice Springs. Stuart named a nearby feature Central Mount Sturt after his former leader. The name was later changed to Central Mount Stuart. Australians, and probably many others, consider Uluru (Ayers Rock) or the town of Alice Springs as being at the centre.

Australian Primary Data Acquisition Progress Maps for Topographic Mapping 1827-1988
While there were various maps showing a south land from antiquity and the later navigator/explorers, these maps were mostly of coastline. Some forty years after the First Fleet arrived, in 1827 then Major (later Sir) Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792-1855) as Surveyor General saw the first systematic surveying and mapping of Australia. After that, settlement drove the need for mapping. As the XNATMAP website enters it fifteenth year an accumulation of information on Australian primary data acquisition for topographic mapping, gathered and standardised during those years, is presented by Paul Wise.

Previously in What's New

Quicklinks

Information on map reading and interpretation, specifically for Natmap medium scale topographic maps, can be found in
Natmap’s Topographic Maps : a guide to map reading and Notes on Map Reading by Reg Ford and Bob Goldsworthy.

Available National Mapping Technical Reports and Special Publications.

The National Mapping Council of Australia (NMC) and the Division of National Mapping (Natmap).

Editions of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette or Government Gazette can now be searched via this link. For each year from 1901 to 1973 a comprehensive annual index was produced and is also accessible from the above link. However, after December 1973 the Public Service section of the Gazette was released as a separate volume. From 1974 onwards these Public Service Gazettes have not been digitised. Thus ready online access to staffing information for 1974 onwards is not available. Also from 1975 onwards comprehensive annual indexing of Gazette entries for all years ceased and for some years only quarterly indexing was provided.

All editions of the NATMAP News published by Natmap's Dandenong Office.

Deceased content warning

This website may contain the images of deceased Aboriginal persons. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers should exercise care in viewing the content.