Student Vera Jones completed this mapping book between 1896 and 1898. Vera attended St Peters Public School in Sydney. She was probably in 3rd Class when she drew this map of New Zealand in September 1896, probably 10 years old.
Vera started the book in June1896 and to December 1896 she completed 21 maps. Eleven maps were done in 1897 and only two in 1898.
The maps are of countries of the world, Australia and some of Australia's colonies at the time – New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.
The maps align with the prescribed 1880 Course of Instruction for 3rd and 4th Class Geography – taught over two and a half years.
The maps are hand-drawn. Vera first ruled the border then drew the black outline. She used pen and ink, using a very fine mapping nib. Red, blue and black inks were used.
On the bottom right corner is a mark and date in blue pencil, marked by Vera's teacher. Most maps in the book are marked with a ‘10’. One is marked ‘9’ and three with an ‘8’.
The mapping book shows:
the process of map drawing – frame, grid, outline, details
ways of representing features – cross-hatching for mountains, blue lines for water, black outline for coasts and black dots for cities
political boundaries of pre-Federation Australia.
Date –June 1896 to September 1898
Creator – Vera Jones, 3rd and 4th Class student
Place – St Peters, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Materials – Cardboard, paper
Dimensions – 23.5cm x 19cm, 35 pages of maps
What coloured inks are used on the maps?
Which is your favourite page? Why?
How is the water shown on the maps?
What can you learn from examining these maps?
Do you think Vera's mapping book is typical of 3rd and 4th Class work of the time? Why do you think that?
How has the process of map making changed or remained the same to how you create maps today?
What do you wonder about these maps?
What else would you like to know about creating maps at school in the past?
Experiment with 1890s techniques to add details to Vera's unfinished map of southern England.
Download and print Vera's unfinished map of southern England
On one part of the map:
use continuous outlines to represent the water
use cross-hatching to represent the mountain ranges.
How long did it take you? How did you feel completing a map in the same style as Vera's?
View the video to learn more about Vera's mapping book and Arthur Logan's hand-drawn map.
What is similar about the mapping work?
Why do you think Vera and Arthur's mapping work has been kept for such a long time?
Arthur Henry Logan's hand-drawn map of Australia is a large poster-sized map – 66cm by 54cm – completed in 1901. Arthur attended Chatswood Superior Public School. He was aged 12 when he drew the map.
The map is done in black ink and watercolour. He has used watercolour washes to colour the ocean and newly formed states of Australia.
What do you notice about Australia's political boundaries on this map – the states and territories?
This page shows a map of Scotland, fancy lettering and the teacher's marking in May Edward's exercise book in 1905. Note the teacher's comment in red ink, 'Shading is bad'. The red shading is the correct method by the teacher.
May was about the same age as Vera Jones when she did this map. May attended Bourke Street Public School in Surry Hills, NSW.
She was probably in the first half year of 5th Class when she completed this work – equivalent to Year 6 today.
How is May's map similar and different to one of Vera's maps?
3rd Class Geography
Outlines of the geography of Australasia and Polynesia; Physical Geography of Towns of New South Wales, Europe, and Asia; Tides, Winds, Currents, Climates, Mapping.
4th Class Geography
Physical features and Chief Towns of North America. Outlines of the Geography of Africa, South America, and West Indies. Ocean; Atmosphere.
The Public Instruction Act of 1880 made education compulsory for students aged 6 to 14 years to attend school for a minimum of 70 days per half year (semester).
The Regulations prescribed the timetable for schools and the Course of Secular Instruction (Point 134, p.30). This was the syllabus all schools in NSW were to follow from 1880.
The course for 3rd Class was one and a half years and for 4th Class one year. The courses were written in half year blocks.
The maps in Vera's mapping book align with the 1880 Geography course for 3rd and 4th Class.
How does the 1880 Geography course compare with what students do in Stage 2 Geography today?
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