From State Library of Victoria News No. 14, September 2000 - November 2000
The journey not the arrival matters
Maps and road guides are everyday accoutrements for today's travellers - and the Library has a diverse collection held in the Maps Collection and Australian Pamphlets series. But 19th century explorers like Burke and Wills had little to guide them into the interior and no knowledge of the conditions they were to meet. Contemporary Victorians knew more about the Middle East than about Australia. At the time Burke and Wills were toiling through central Australia with nothing to guide them but hope, users of the Library could consult photographs of Egypt and the Holy land.
The paper trails of notes by Burke and Wills and drawings by Ludwig Becker are to be found in the records of the Victorian Exploring Expedition in the Australian Manuscripts Collection. |
Trains and boats and planes...
Many voyages, real and imaginary, can be followed in the Library which holds almost all the published accounts of voyages of discovery to Australia. From first European settlement to the 1960s most people travelled to and from Australia by ship. Over more than a century, thousands of ships came into ports in Australia, carrying visitors and immigrants in search of gold, freedom, a better life or a warmer climate. Images of the ships which brought these people to Australia are to be found in original photographs, thousands of which are held in the Brodie and Green collections in the Pictures Collection.
However, photographs give no idea of life on board and one must go to shipboard diaries kept by travellers to fill out the picture. The Manuscripts Collection has many such 19th century examples, frequently providing graphic stories of dangerous voyages through rough seas, with seasick passengers confined to foetid and overcrowded cabins. |
In the 20th century, lucky (and well-off) people like the artist Jessie Traill travelled by that hybrid, the flying boat. Her journey from Poole to Sydney on Qantas flight 13 Q79, took from 5th to 13th December in 1946. The ticket cost 200 pounds, then a considerable sum of money.
Illustrations
Left: Passenger ticket for the British Overseas Airways Corporation
Centre: Sheet music for He'd have to get under - get out and get under.
Right: Journey by Lancia from Melbourne to Darwin, 1927. Photograph taken by Jean Beatson. |
