Please join us for a public symposium exploring three of the most important early map collections in Australia with a particular focus on Dutch Golden Age maps showcasing recent innovations in their care and conservation.
This symposium will feature engaging presentations from historians and researchers formative in the development of the map collections of the National Library of Australia, the Kerry Stokes Collection, and MONA as they discuss the history, significance, and motivation for these collections in the context of Australian mapping.
Conservators from the University of Melbourne will describe their recent award-winning journey to conserve two different copies of the rare and beautiful 17th-Century wall map, Archipelagus Orientalis, sive Asiaticus (Eastern and Asian archipelago), from the workshop of Master Cartographer for the Dutch East India Company Joan Blaeu, and share the insights they gained into the materials and construction of these rare, beautiful, and complex maps.
Archipelagus Orientalis, sive Asiaticus is the first published map depicting in detail the journeys of Abel Tasman including the sighting of Tasmania by the crew of the Zeehan on 24 November 1642, and Tasman’s mapping of New Zealand; it is the first large-scale published map of New Holland and the map on which all subsequent maps of Australia were based until the additions of Cook over a century later. The National Library of Australia map has recently been added to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.
Only five complete copies are known to exist, and of these the only two wall maps are held in Australian collections and were conserved by the University of Melbourne.
Speakers include:
Dr Martin Woods
Former Director, Curatorial and Collections Research, National Library of Australia, Canberra
Erica Persak
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Jane Clark
Museum of New and Old Art (MONA), Hobart
Libby Melzer
University of Melbourne
Peter Mitchelson
University of Melbourne
Victoria Thomas
ArtLab Australia
Briony Pemberton
Pemberton Conservation
Marion Parker
Marion Parker Textiles Conservation
Christine Mizzi
State Library of Victoria
Date: Saturday 15 July 2023
Time: 10am sharp to 3pm AEST
Location: Arts West Forum Theatre, University of Melbourne
Cost: Free entry. Registrations are essential as places are limited
Inclusions: Registration ticket includes entry to the symposium, Symposium Program and event lanyard.
Lunch break: There will be a 50 minute break for lunch from 12 noon. Please make your own arrangements. Refer to the Symposium Program for the event schedule featuring session times.
Further information: gcs-info@unimelb.edu.au or call Grimwade Conservation Services contact Libby Melzer on (03) 9348 5700.
Presented by:
The University of Melbourne’s Grimwade Conservation Services