Mapping your history

Family History with Maps at the State Library of Victoria on Tuesday 11th October 2-3pm. It is a free event but bookings are required. Attendees are to meet in the Library's grand front foyer.

The State Library has a large impressive collection of historic maps (over 110,000 maps – enough to carpet metropolitan Melbourne). Victoria is divided into administrative districts - counties, parishes and townships. The maps of these districts record the transfer of land from government to private ownership, each plan shows the boundaries of occupied, reserved or privately owned land, the names of first grantees, and the purchase dates.
 Parish plans provide an indication of the size and shape of local settlements and the location of major buildings, roads, railways and other built structures, as well as natural features such as rivers, lakes and mountains. They sometimes include notes on local vegetation types, and even the quality and colour of local soils. They may also show the location of houses, businesses, schools, churches and other local landmarks.The State Library has around 8500 country, parish and township plans, produced between 1837 and 1986.
Learn about the map resources in the State Library's collection, and how you can use them to enrich your family and local history research.