In Praise of Maps

I read printed newspapers because it’s a pleasant thing to do, much like the pleasure of reading a printed book.

Printed maps are like that, too.

Unlike the news you’ll be taken to by social media algorithms, newspapers give you a breadth of information you weren’t even looking for.

Maps also do that.

Satellite navigation is a wonderful tool for driving in unfamiliar places, especially in built-up areas, and the directions are always up to date.

It’s not always as reliable in regional areas.

A few years ago, we drove from Newcastle to Wollongong, through the western suburbs of Sydney. Sydney is the Big Smoke, and I was nervous. Sat-nav took us through without a hitch.

There were hiccups later in this trip, once we left the larger centres. Sat-nav directed us to the middle of Jervis Bay, and then we found ourselves on a dirt road in the middle of a storm.

Leaving Canberra and heading north for Cowra and the Lachlan Valley Way, the sat-nav sent us through Yass and on to a gravel road.

A flock of Superb Parrots flew across in front of the car, which made it all worthwhile.

In the bush, printed maps are often better.

To plan a trip, I like to spread out my map on the kitchen table and look at all the possibilities. There’s so much information: distances and diversions, road types and surfaces, towns large and small, service stations and caravan parks, nearby points of interest, mountains and river crossings, even cattle stations.

Not everything, though. On a drive from Calliope to Monto through the Boyne Valley, the map showed a section of dirt road, but didn’t indicate that it was raining (after bushfires) and that there were timber trucks on the narrow road. It was hair-raising.

The road through the Boyne Valley to Monto

On a map of Queensland, which stretches the width of the table, I trace for my grandsons the route they took from their home in Far North Queensland, out to Hughenden, Barcaldine and Winton, down to Charleville and Thargomindah, then to Stanthorpe and Brisbane, then home to FNQ.

The Capricorn Highway going through Barcaldine

They can compare on the map, and even measure with their hands, the difference in distance between the trip they know best, from Cairns to Townsville, and the size of the state.

A spread-out map of Queensland is good for making comparisons. For instance, Cairns, on the coast, is almost directly north of Cunnamulla, 790 kilometres west of Brisbane, which is also on the coast.

The map shows that if you drive west from Rockhampton for seven and a half hours to reach Longreach, you’ll still be only halfway across the state.

A road atlas for Australia is useful for road trips. And did you know that the Brisbane Street Directory also contains maps for the whole state? I discovered that only recently.

Up until a few years ago, the Sunshine Coast section of the Brisbane street directory even showed cane train routes leading out from the Nambour sugar mill, with names familiar to me from my childhood.

In a few weeks, we’ll be on the road again, heading to Far North Queensland ahead of this year’s expected floods, fires and extreme heat. I’ll begin my planning soon. I’ll need to search for a route with something new to see. We’ve driven Queensland from south to north and back again many times.

We might head north the most obvious way and take the Bruce Highway through Rockhampton and the Marlborough Stretch, bypass Mackay, head through Townsville and north via Ingham.

Perhaps we’ll go on the Burnett Highway, spend a night at Gayndah and head to Rockhampton via Mount Morgan. I like quaint old goldmining towns.

If we bypass Toowoomba and head west, we could turn north from Miles and take the quiet and beautiful way through Taroom and Banana to Mount Morgan.

From Roma, we could turn north to Emerald and follow the Gregory Highway all the way through Clermont, then turn east on the spectacular Peak Downs Highway to end up on the coast at Mackay.