NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Flinders' Survey of Australia.
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2008 Mar 12, 13:40 +1100
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From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2008 Mar 12, 13:40 +1100
Frank answered:
Peter F. you wrote,
"There are current charts of parts (the more remote parts) of the coast that
still rely on Flinders' charts. Its a measure of what a good job he did,
under what must have been trying circumstances, but also an indication of
how remote and little visited are some parts of the coast."
with:
Do you know if that's still true? It could be true, of course. I'm not
saying it couldn't be true. Just as you say, in remote areas, there's no
real need for a new survey. But it has been my experience that the majority
of those historical positions even in remote areas have been superceded by
measurements derived from aerial and, to a lesser extent, satellite imagery
in the past fifty years, at least in current, official charts.
This is something that I have heard/read again and again although that, of course, does not make it true. It certainly sounds unlikely, particularly to anyone from long-established and well-mapped places. My understanding is that this applies particularly to parts of the north west (the 'top end' of the state of Western Australia) coast that have always been and remain particularly isolated and barely inhabited. As well, the coast is a complicated one with many off-shore islands and reefs, plus the tidal range is comparatively great. So all in all a good place to avoid. Did I mention the crocodiles?
Anyhow, I went a-Googling in search of substantiation, which I am sorry to report I have not found. However, along the way I did come across this:
which I thought could be of interest to those who are interested in Flinders, as it promises links to many letters from Flinders to Joseph Banks ("Correspondence, being mainly letters received by Banks from Matthew Flinders, 1800-1807, 1811").
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