Australian maps, especially those covering Victoria, are the main focus of this collection, though the Library also has many maps from overseas.
As well as over 110,000 maps – enough to carpet metropolitan Melbourne – the collection includes geographical and cartographic reference books and atlases.
There is a wealth of rare and antique maps in the collection, including the charts drawn up by Abel Tasman and James Cook. The 19th-century township, parish and county maps, along with squatter maps, can provide all sorts of leads for those investigating their family history.
Drainage plans produced by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) from the late 19th century to the 1940s give a fascinating historical record of Melbourne streetscapes and features. Over 600 of these have been digitised and are available online.
There are several thousand auction plans showing the layout of suburban estates, and large collections of fire insurance plans, aerial photographs, and geology and goldmining maps, as well as topographic maps from government agencies such as Land Victoria and GeoScience Australia.
Significant overseas holdings include maps by the British Ordnance Survey, nautical charts covering all corners of the globe, and 19th-century Indian maps.
The Library's map collection is held in storage and can be viewed by appointment in the Heritage Collections Reading Room.
