VPRS 19574 Aerial State Map Photo Mosaics

This series consists of aerial photo map mosaics of Victoria which were created by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538). Aerial photo map mosaics were created by merging overlapping aerial photographic images to form a map sheet. They provide detailed features of the landscape of Victoria visible from the air such as roads, rivers, built up area, tree areas, cleared areas and waterbodies. On some maps, features such as rivers, suburbs / towns, roads and landmarks such as train stations and hospitals have been marked. Approximately 500 aerial photographic prints were used for each map sheet created. The construction of these maps was detailed and involved. Prints were cut to remove overlaps. One print could be cut a long a river for example and the adjoining print would be cut to match it. The cuts were often feathered to give a better match. Each map covers 30 minutes of longitude by 15 minutes of latitude, approximately 43 km by 27 km per map. The aerial photography was undertaken by different bodies over time. It commenced with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. Following the war, the Department of Crown Lands and Survey undertook aerial photography projects of the State themselves.  The aerial photography was commonly as a scale of 4 inches to 1 mile or approximately 1:16,000.  The projects were recorded on key diagrams using the cadastral 1 inch to 1 mile map series. The 1 inch to 1 mile sheets were on the Australian National Grid. Zone 6 (part), zone 7 and zone 8 cover Victoria. The aerial photographs had no coordinate information to position them.  Control points were needed to locate the photos in their true position – these were features such as fence corners which could be identified on both the photographs and the ground.