Antique maps on the Collectors television program
On 6 May 2008 a segment for The Collectors television show was filmed in the Fox Family White Gloves Room at the State Library of Queensland.
Troy Hamilton Irvine from Antique MapArt Australia recommended the filming be done at the State Library. This was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the new building and the Map Collection.
The segment focused on maps showing the first sightings of Australia, followed by the charts of Cook and Flinders.
Maps from the State Library included the most recent important purchase made by the Library, Pars Orbis, by Arias Montanus, produced in 1572. This very rare and mysterious map depicts an island roughly in the position of Australia, and shows for the first time on a world map a single southern continent rather than an amorphous landmass.
To complete the theme of the discovery of Australia the programme filmed the Flinders map, known to be the first complete map of Australia, and the first time the continent had been called Australia.
Edwin Clark, a map restorer and printer, also contributed some exciting maps to round off the session, including a sketch of Sydney Cove in 1789.
