When the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788 Australia’s First Nations people had already lived on the continent for at least 60,000 years.
Matthew Flinders drew an accurate map of Australia’s coastline, but none existed of inland Australia. Aboriginal people knew their Country in detail without the need for maps. They had a network of tracks across the continent and detailed knowledge of food and water sources. But for the European settlers Australia was a 7.7 million km2 mystery to solve.
This is how they set about Filling in the Map of Australia.
Filling in the Map may be purchased from your local bookshop.