The New Map of Queensland, 1863
On 13 March 1862, Queen Victoria authorised the Letters Patent altering the western boundary of Queensland and the copy of the Letters Patent was printed in the Queensland Government Gazette, Vol. III, on Monday 23 June 1862. It stated:
We do hereby annex to Our said Colony of Queensland so much of Our Colony of New South Wales as lies to the northward of the twenty sixth parallel of South Latitude and between the one hundred and forty first and one hundred and thirty eighth Meridians of East Longitude together with all and every the adjacent Islands their members and appoints in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The Letters Patent established the current western boundary of Queensland, adding 302,600 square kilometres to the Colony's territory. A digitised copy of the The Letters Patent, including its transcript, is available from the National Archives of Australia. This map shows the borders. Despite the annexation it was another 25 years before the region was fully surveyed.
Of course without the move from the 141 to 138 meridian of east longitude, cities and towns such as Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Birdsville and the Gulf country would not be part of Queensland today. Given their economic, social and political importance to Queensland one can't help but think that our people, our places, our stories would be somewhat different if the changes had not been made.
This western movement of the boundary was not the only addition to Queensland. The Queensland Coastal Act (1879) extended Queensland's control from three miles offshore to 60 miles offshore, bringing all of Torres Strait, to within a few hundred metres of the coast of New Guinea, into the Colony of Queensland.
In 1992 this was significant to all of Australia when the Mabo case acknowledged Indigenous land tenure on Murray (Mer) Island in Torres Strait. This judgment overcame the legal doctrine of terra nullius, which had prevented a recognition in law of the Indigenous occupation of Australia.
| Release | HTML | JPG | JPG Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low quality | – | jpg | (1,000 kB) |
| Standard quality | – | jpg | (3,250 kB) |
| High quality | – | jpg | (8,650 kB) |
| Very high quality | Google Maps Overlay | jpg | (23,425 kB) |
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Sections of the Map
Given the detail and size of the original map, it would be difficult to print it on anything other than a commercial printer. Therefore the map has been divided into 25 pieces against a grid A1-E5. The sections include pieces of the grid which can sensibly be printed on A4, instructions for printing and information on licensing requirements.
| Release | PDF Size | |
|---|---|---|
| Slice A1 | (840 kB) | |
| Slice B1 | (885 kB) | |
| Slice C1 | (860 kB) | |
| Slice D1 | (975 kB) | |
| Slice E1 | (865 kB) | |
| Slice A2 | (845 kB) | |
| Slice B2 | (895 kB) | |
| Slice C2 | (905 kB) | |
| Slice D2 | (865 kB) | |
| Slice E2 | (850 kB) | |
| Slice A3 | (880 kB) | |
| Slice B3 | (885 kB) | |
| Slice C3 | (930 kB) | |
| Slice D3 | (970 kB) | |
| Slice E3 | (855 kB) | |
| Slice A4 | (880 kB) | |
| Slice B4 | (865 kB) | |
| Slice C4 | (905 kB) | |
| Slice D4 | (1,070 kB) | |
| Slice E4 | (985 kB) | |
| Slice A5 | (865 kB) | |
| Slice B5 | (885 kB) | |
| Slice C5 | (895 kB) | |
| Slice D5 | (970 kB) | |
| Slice E5 | (975 kB) |
If you need help with any of the file types above, please see our help page.
More Information
- For further information about this page please use the Request a Statistic form or phone (07) 3224 5284.
Last reviewed: Oct 19, 2009, Last modified: Oct 14, 2009
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