VPRS 18782 Hydrographic Survey Plans

Full description

This series comprises hydrographic survey maps of Victoria’s coastline, bays, and inland waterways. The maps primarily document soundings of the sea floor and recording the depth at various locations. These are recorded as rows of numbers across the map, usually in uniform lines. The series also contains a small number of plans depicting port infrastructure and equipment, and a small number of index plans.

The maps were created first by various iterations of the Ports and Harbours Division, beginning with the division within the Department of Trade and Customs, then the Public Works Department, and finally the Department of Transport. The division moved between departments as its marine survey functions were transferred. In 1986 the function moved to the Port of Melbourne Authority, which continued the series.

The maps depict waterways throughout Victoria, but most commonly Westernport Bay, Port Phillip Heads, Swan Bay, the West and South Channels in Port Phillip Bay, Corner Inlet, Corio Bay, Port Fairy, and Queenscliff. Dredging locations and dredging spoil dumps are also commonly represented in the series.

Within the series there are sequences of soundings of the same area taken regularly over months or years, documenting any change in sea depths. Some maps later in the series, from the 1980s and 1990s, depict cross sections of the water and sea floor. Many of the maps also depict locations of marine infrastructure such as lighthouses and buoys. Some of the records are index plans, which show an area and indicate the plan numbers for the plans covering that particular area at the time of creation.

Maps in this series can be identified by location, which is described in the title of each map, as well as the map number. The title descriptions were taken directly from information on the maps where that was sufficient; where this was not the case, titles have been taken from the accompanying card index series VPRS 18879. The dates listed for each map often indicate the date the survey began as the start date, to the date the survey map was checked and signed off, although this is not uniform. Some maps contain a date although no indication of what the date represents, and others contain no date at all. Later maps, with plan numbers in the 3000 and 4000 range, have much more uniform identifying information and the date for the map generally reflects the date/s the survey was conducted.

The maps have generally been listed in sequential order by map number. However, as the maps were stored in several different locations each group of maps from each location has been listed sequentially, so some may appear out of order. A significant quantity of early maps are missing as of 2022. 

Before coming into PROV custody, this series was held for a number of years at the Queenscliff Maritime Museum.