Allan Cunningham Map Project

Portrait of Allan Cunningham 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-134318226

Allan Cunningham is a person who appears large in the history and geography of the Southern Downs.  A colonial explorer and botanist he is perhaps best known in these parts for finding a route that linked the Southern Downs to Moreton Bay in the latter part of the 1820s.

In this post I am launching a project which uses 'Google My Maps' to record how Cunningham is remembered in the landscape.  Like a number of projects which are about to appear on this blog, this is not a finished project.  However, there is sufficient progress that the results are worth sharing.  Ideally it will inform a dialogue with my audience that will increase the richness of the project.

It is true that such a post could be seen as a contribution to the white heroic explorer narrative.  Hopefully by making such an observation the reader can see I am seeking to distance myself from such a label.  Having said that such a project can be used to to demonstrate how pervasive such a narrative is.

'Google My Maps' allows the author to annotate with text and images, I encourage you to explore what I have uploaded so far. Information for a number of the items has been sourced from Monument Australia's website, links to the relevant pages are included in the map pins.

I have been listing 'Allan' and 'Cunningham' streets, it is not confirmed that these are definitely named after Allan Cunningham, there are other people with either his first name or surname, but I am taking it as a good first guess.  The townships of Allan and Cunningham are definitely named after him.

I have also started on a layer of places named by Cunningham himself, these are marked with purple pins.  Much of Cunningham's labelling is tribute to other significant white colonists.

Here is a link to my Allan Cunningham Map Project

If you are interested in using Google My Maps for your own project I found this tutorial helpful.