Event presented by: Asa Letourneau (Public Record Office Victoria) and Ben Mountford (Australian Catholic University)
Digital maps have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Whether on our phones, watches, car dashboards or laptops – they have become one of the main ways we navigate through the world. But they can also provide us with a valuable tool for navigating the past. In this session, Asa Letourneau from Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) and Ben Mountford from Australian Catholic University (ACU) will talk about the history of mapping Ballarat and explore the changing historical landscape of Ballarat as a centre for entertainment and culture. They’ll do this by introducing one of their favourite interactive mapping tools - PROV’s ‘Mapwarper’ - an image and map georeferencing tool that enables us to overlay historic maps over present-day digital maps. By the end of the session attendees will be ready to explore Mapwarper in their own time and to enjoy this innovative approach to mapping our past.
Asa Letourneau is Online Engagement Officer at Public Record Office Victoria. Asa has been with PROV in a variety of roles since 2005. Asa is most interested in cultural collection interoperability and making archival records as accessible as content found in libraries, museums and galleries.
Benjamin Mountford is Associate Professor of History at Australian Catholic University and Director of ACU’s Centre for Regional Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Ballarat. Ben is the author of the award-winning book Britain, China, & Colonial Australia (Oxford University Press) and is currently writing a book about the Californian and Victorian gold rushes.
