Parks Victoria - Marine Mapping Education Resource Kit

| Teachers Guide | Glossary | Resource Material |

Introduction to Marine Mapping

While there is some evidence of mapping of southern Australia by Portuguese explorers in the 16th century, it was not until George Bass visited Western Port in 1797 on his remarkable journey in a small whaleboat¹ from Port Jackson (Sydney) that Victoria’s coast was known in any detail.

His records evidence the existence of a Strait separating Tasmania and the mainland included measurements of depth and currents prevailing in the area. Soon followed by Mathew Flinders and many other explorers, comprehensive mapping of Victoria’s coastline was underway by the early 1800s.

In November 2002, the Victorian Government created a system of Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries. These parks were created to protect representative samples of Victoria’s diverse and unique marine life and the ecosystems that support them in the same way that National Parks on land protect important habitats and species. It was recognised that to manage our Marine National Park system more information was needed about the habitats within them.

Part of Mathew Flinders' map
Click on the map to view a larger version
Image courtesy National Library of Australia

To better understand the natural and cultural values the new parks contained, and protect the parks from potential threats, required comprehensive mapping. Mapping the Marine National Parks system is providing valuable information to better manage the parks for the benefit of all Victorians now and into the future.

The Marine Mapping Project has vastly improved knowledge of Victoria’s marine environment and has in many cases updated information and data previously collected by explorers like Bass and Flinders. This comprehensive mapping project has brought together many partners from around Australia to build a picture of what is found in both the shallow and deep water areas of Victoria’s Marine National Park system.

Checking survey course

Hauling a video camera back
onto the survey vessel

As stewards of Victoria's marine environment young people have a critical role to play in the management of our Marine National Parks. Through understanding what important values the Marine National Park system is protecting, the threats to the parks from human activities, and getting involved in doing things to care for the marine environment, young people are needed to make a real difference for the future.

Through sharing the exploration and discovery provided through the Marine Mapping Project with students Parks Victoria seek to inspire young Victorians to take an active interest in protecting our Marine National Park system.

¹ Bass's whaleboat was named Tom Thumb and was only 2.4 metres in length. Together with a party of eight he left Port Jackson on 3 December 1797 and sailed along the NSW coast before travelling around Wilsons Promontory. He spent two weeks in Western Port before returning to Sydney on 24th February, 1798. He had been away 11 weeks and had explored 1,000 kilometres of coastline, half of which had never been explored before.



Copyright © Parks Victoria 2006