Records in Public Record Office Victoria's collection take many forms beyond the typical paper document. This article discusses a recent project involving one of the largest items in the collection, a 4.5 by 6 metre map of Victoria created by the Parliament in 1862.¹ This map came into being as a requirement of the Land Act 1862 (commonly known as the Duffy Act after its sponsor, Charles Gavan Duffy, who was in charge of the Lands Department in 1858-59 and 1861-63). The large map was lodged with the Clerk of Parliaments both as a requirement of the Duffy Act and to enable the public display of this depiction of the 10 million acres of land made available for selection by the Act.

This map, which comprises a series of smaller lithographs pasted onto a seamless backing, was originally hung on the wall in Parliament, on rollers (a bit like a household holland blind). It presumably remained on display in Parliament House until 1865, the year of the next Land Act. Some time after the map was taken down, it was placed in a specially constructed wooden box and stored in the basement of Parliament House, until its transfer to PROV.²

This storage of the map in the wooden box and minimal handling since it was consigned to the basement have resulted in a very well-conserved record for PROV's collection. In addition to its significance as an object, or even an icon, this map as a record provides a succinct visual representation of the alienation of land in the colony of Victoria, from the first land sales overseen by La Trobe in 1837, up to the Duffy Act in 1862. The boundaries of the system imposed on the landscape by successive lands administrators, categorising areas of the land as parishes and counties, are clear, as are the towns then in existence, as well as natural features of Victoria's topography and landscape. As Farrugia and Nelson have stated, the 1862 Land Act map depicts 'the extent and limits of settlement in the colony of Victoria to that time'.³ A major issue with this record for PROV was how to provide access to the map and to the evidence it provides of the administration of public land in the colony.

Cate Elkner with Daniel Wilksch (Manager Online Projects) standing beside the 1862 Land Act map at the time it was being photographed in the first stage of the digitisation project.
PROV, VPRS 7664/P3 Unregistered Maps and Plans (Legislative Assembly), Unit 1