Background:
The importance of John Arrowsmiths contribution to early Australian cartography cannot be stressed enough. He was responsible for producing many of the early exploration maps of Australia for the Colonial Offices & Government publications as well as the RGS.
Maps produced after the first settlement and into the 19th century came from varied sources, first published with the First Fleet Journals by Arthur Phillip, John Hunter and Watkin Tench. Numerous European publishing houses produced atlases which included maps of Australia. Many came out in several editions and were updated as new information became available. The Australian Colonies were administered by officials responsible to the British Colonial Office and all events of importance, often illustrated by maps, were published in the British Parliamentary Papers. There a rea prime source of maps from 1830 onwards, although one or two maps may be found in Parliamentary Papers prior to this time, such as one example of a rare map of the Swan River by Captain James Stirling.
During the 19th century, as the Australian colonies were progressively granted responsible government, Parliamentary Papers for each colony became an important source of maps. These maps sources have been a hidden and untapped resource. Another good source of early maps is published journals of the explorers; the explorers earliest maps often accompanied reports in the
Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in the UK. Parallel development of Australian scientific institutions along with an interest in exploration was a strong feature of 19th century Australia. The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia was established with branches in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland. A number of important maps were published as separate sheets, increasingly by Australian printers and engravers such as Carmichael, Sands & Kenny, and Higginbotham, Robinson & Harrison.
Australian atlases were produced and repeat editions of cadastral surveys and maritime chats became increasingly available. Specialist maps were published from official sources, including geological and mineral maps. Towards the end of the century a plethora of thematic maps were published through a verity of media such as advertisements for land sales, tourists maps and street directories.

Parliamentary Papers British Parliamentary Papers were a funnel for all significant colonial events in the 19th century. They included over one hundred maps with information on topography, exploration and lad survey published between 1817 and 1890., with two-thirds of the maps being produced by John Arrowsmith. Few maps are found after the early 1860s. The maps accompanying papers relevant to gold discovery (1851-55) are a particularly good resource, documenting an important time in the history of Australia. Perhaps the most neglected source of early Australian maps are those included in the Colonial Parliamentary Papers published locally after 1836. The NSW Parliamentary Papers published between 1836 and 1900 contain over 2700 maps on 129 topics, providing a unique record of events considered important by the colonial administration. Land ownership and land use dominate, followed by maps of services relevant to land use, such as railways, roads, water supply and sewerage. Public health issues are recorded in maps as are maps of gold& mineral leases reflected the expanding diversity of the economy. The first map published in the NSW Parliamentary Papers, of the site of the new Government House, was lithographed by W.R. Baker in 1836. The total number of maps over the same period from other colonies was less than 2000 but again each colonies priorities were reflected by in the subjects covered. Tasmania reflected mainly geological and early convict disciplinary maps; South Australia, land administration and pastoral development; Victoria, maps relating to the development; Victoria, maps relating to the colonies infrastructure, especially railway and harbour development; Queensland, railway and mineral leases; Western Australia, a broad range that included two important technological innovations that shortened the time, and therefore the cost, of printing maps. Firstly , John Osborn in 1859, developed the use of a transfer paper method in photolithography which reduced printing time from days to hours. Secondly, Alfred Selwyn in 1860 used a steam-driven power press to print seven colour geological maps.

Royal Geographical Society published its first journal in 1832. This journal was to become the leading scientific medium available for explorers to publish the first news of their discoveries. However, not all explorers were published here. Between 1832 and 1880, 25 maps recorded of inland Australia, illustrating the journeys of 27 explorers. John Arrowsmith compiled 22 of the 25 maps published by the RGS again illustrating the importance of Arrowsmith to the expansion of early colonial cartography in Australia.

Arrowsmith, John 1790-1873
Arrowsmith was an English geographer (mapmaker) and member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. He was born at Winston, County Durham.
In 1810 he joined his uncle Aaron Arrowsmith in his map-making business in London. In 1821, they published a map of North America using a combination of a maps obtained from the Hudson\\\'s Bay Company and Aaron\\\'s own previous work. After his uncle died in 1823, the business was carried on by his sons Aaron and Samuel Arrowsmith until 1839 when John Arrowsmith took over the business. In 1834 John published his London Atlas, which were the best set of such maps then in existence. He followed the atlas with a long series of elaborate and carefully executed maps, those of Australia, America, Africa and India being especially valuable. In 1863 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, of which body he was one of the founders.
He retired from a fully active participation in the firm about 1861 but continued to revise some of his earlier work. His address was Hereford Square, Kensington, from which address he issued a map of Australia in 1862. In all, including revisions, he produced well over four hundred maps. He operated in a similar manner to his uncle Aaron, compiling maps for Hansard and the Royal Geographical Journal, and occasionally for other publishers, e.g. Burrs American Atlas (1839) and Greys Journal (1841). He reissued some revised version of his uncles large maps but in the main he concentrated his efforts on perfecting his London Atlas., first published in 1834, which he constantly revised and improved as edition succeeded edition. This was a normal atlas size. Also like his uncle his interest was largely on foreign discovery and he produced many fine and up-to-date maps particularly of Australia and South Africa, incorporating many the latest information. In 1863 John was awarded a gold medal from the RGS for his services to geography. He died at his house in Hereford Square in 1873 aged 83 years leaving unpublished some fine maps of the Australian Colonies and other countries, his stock of maps, plates and manuscripts being sold at public auction in 1874.

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