Contact: contact@AntiqueMapArt.com, Phone: +61 (07) 3103 0391, Mobile: 0011 6723 51512 (Norfolk Mobile)
May not depict actual map.
1805 - Generalcharte von Australien nach dem entwurfe des H.Joseph Marx Freiherrn v. Liechtenstern
| Map maker | Size | Map ID | Condition |
| Swoboda & Hartl | 670 x 495 mm | D17 / M122 / I364 |
 | Ask about this item | | SOLD |
In 1805 when this map was printed there was a strong belief that the Australian continent may be divided by an internal sea so that the east coast was separated from the rest of the continent. It was explorers such as Flinders and Baudin who set out to find this elusive passage and the point at which it could be entered.
Only a few years before in 1798 Flinders and Bass had proved that there was a strait dividing Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) from the rest of the continent so now the race was on to find the other passage. On Swoboda’s map a line has been drawn from the bottom of Carpentaria to the eastern part of present day Victoria. This line represented two things, the potential shape of the eastern landmass split by the sea and the extent to English territory in the newly settled colonies, only 17 years old.
The Southern Coastline is not shown as even though Flinders had by 1803 mapped the entire region he was in 1805 still under house arrest on the islands of Mauritius by the French, he would not publish his discoveries until 1814. Therefore this map shows Australia at a pivotal point in its history when most of the continent was still open for settlement by other nations and the coastlines and mysteries were still to be confirmed.
View map online on http://www.antiquemapart.com/map/122