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 12 April 2021

James Stanley William (Jim) Malone (1943-2021)
Jim Malone made a significant contribution to the post-World War II mapping of Australia for over 30 years. He joined Nat Map in 1970 as a Draftsman and in 1985 became Chief Executive Officer, Cartography in charge of Nat Map's Cartographic Group. Jim retired from the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group in 1994. In this article Laurie McLean has provided a tribute to Jim Malone in consultation with Jim's wife Ann and several of Jim's Nat Map colleagues.

The Royal Australian Survey Corps Aerodist Years, 1964-1975
The Royal Australian Survey Corps Aerodist Years, 1964-1975 by Peter Jensen describes their use of Aerodist to provide control for 1: 100 000 scale topographic mapping in the difficult terrain and environmental conditions of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and northern Australia.

ACRES Use of Optical Tape for Data Storage and Preservation
In 1992, to cope with the existing archive and future archive growth, ACRES commenced a program of transcribing satellite data stored on High Density Digital Tape to Optical Tape. The research, integration and use of the CREO Optical Tape Recorders at ACRES was discussed in these two papers :
Denize, Robert (1992), Management of Satellite Remote Sensing Data, and
Wise, Paul Joseph and Denize, Robert (1993), Safeguarding Australia's Archive of Satellite Remotely Sensed Data.
Robert has since compiled a short video of the first use of an Optical Tape Recorder at ACRES; the low resolution version may be viewed via this link and the full resolution version via this link.

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.