All posts tagged: Australia

Submission – Future Map: Melbourne Rail and Tram Map, 2025 by Durfsurn

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Future Maps, Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Durfsurn, who says: Originally I was making a map similar to my previous style of Melbourne/ Australian transport maps, but as the increasing complexity of a multi-modal map made itself clear I decided to streamline the lines, trying to balance real life corridors with more sensible and understandable map design. First I was inspired from a recent trip to Japan (amazing PT systems with manic maps to go with!) and added Line Identifiers […]

Submission – Official Map: Buses around the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, Australia

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Submitted by Felix, who says: Transport for NSW released a new bus route map for the Eastern Suburbs, which I noticed a hard copy of and they provided a PDF upon request. There are many bus routes in the area and, because of the hilly terrain, many have quirks in their routes. I’ve spoken to many a tourist or visitor at Bondi Junction interchange, or one of the beaches, confused about which bus to take. […]

Submission – Unofficial Future Map: Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (Straightened) by Philip Mallis

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Submitted by Philip, who says: I put together a map showing a redesign of Melbourne’s rail network with the newly-announced Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). Given that this is the first radial railway proposed for Melbourne for many decades, I have built the rest of the map around a central straight line of the new Loop. More explanation and links to the map on Philip’s website. Transit Maps says: The recent announcement of this new underground railway […]

Historical Maps: Melbourne Tram Destination Posters by Vernon Jones, c. 1930s

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A handsome pair of posters promoting easy travel by tram to destinations around Melbourne, designed by artist Vernon Jones (1908–2002), perhaps better known for his illustration work documenting WWII. The dating on these is a little uncertain, with some sources placing the first edition as early as 1925. They were used for a number of years: a later edition of the “Zoo” poster revised the time from Collins Street to a perhaps more realistic 14 minutes. […]

Historical Map: Sydney Tramways, 1921

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This is one of those maps where I’m not entirely sure if it’s the brainchild of a genius or the work of a madman. It’s an insanely detailed map-slash-diagram of tram routes in Sydney from 1921 by an unknown author that also attempts to indicate almost every major cross-street along the way. Intersections that are also designated as tram stops get a marker and increasingly larger labels to indicate their relative importance. Five different line […]

Historical Map: Suburban Bus Routes of Sydney, 1961

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The map on the reverse side of the previously featured diagram of downtown Sydney bus routes, showing an overview of routes throughout the city. The map even comments on its own shortcomings to the bottom left , with a disclaimer that almost apologetically states that “This map is intended only as a guide to the bus services.” Using the same colour-coding and ambiguous naming conventions as that diagram, the map is mainly notable for highlighting the […]

Historical Map: Location of City Bus Terminals, Sydney, 1961

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A map showing the main Sydney bus terminals and the routes which ran through them from December 1961. The route designations are an uncomfortable mix of streets the buses run along downtown (Pitt and Castlereagh Street Services) and eventual destinations (Northern Suburbs Services via the Harbour Bridge), which doesn’t really help to make the system user-friendly. The extensive legend below the map helps somewhat, but it’s all somewhat arcane. In practice, you remembered where the […]

Historical Map: New South Wales By Train Information Wheel, 1938

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I’m loving this little promotional piece produced by the New South Wales Railway Department in 1938. The user would rotate the outer ring so that a city’s name would line up with the red arrow, thus revealing various facts about that place, including which railway line it was located on and how far from Sydney it was by rail. Here, Canberra’s statistics are shown. A lovely little piece of railway ephemera. Source: National Library of […]

Historical Map: Adelaide Metropolitan Rail Transport System, c. 1978

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Historical Maps

Sent my way on Twitter by Cameron Coy, this diagram of rail services radiating out from central Adelaide in South Australia isn’t anything special… except for the wonderfully and unashamedly late 1970s typography, with ITC Souvenir Bold deployed in all its curvaceous, tightly letter-spaced glory. I particularly like its use for the main Adelaide station, where the letterforms across the large station circle (intentionally?) evoke the famous London Underground roundel. It’s interesting to note all […]