Via Rebecca Blood, the Strange Maps blog collects and comments on unusual maps, whether fantastical or, in the case of this 1838 map of Australia reorganized into ten states (rather than the present 6 states & 2 territories).
I like that Guelphia includes both Melbourne & Sydney, as it would perhaps help reduce the inane “rivalry” and help promote the acceptance between the two of the alternative football codes (rugby in the present NSW and Australian Rules in Victoria).
Ultimately, this reorganisation has to fail. Renaming Tasmania in itself is not a bad thing, returning it to its original Van Diemen’s Land, but then sticking a new Tasmanian state far from the Tasman Sea just confuses things. I get Carpentaria and Torresia, but where does “Guelphia” come from? And does “Dampieria” have anything to do with the swagman’s campfire bread “damper”?
Also fun is this GDP comparison, where Australia comes in as equivalent to Ohio. Which is why we’ve got John Howard, I’d guess.
1 comment:
William Dampier was the first Englishman to reach the Australian coast. As for Guelphia, I guess it's from Guelph, the ancestral name of the British royal family.
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