Australia's Resources Atlas

T. W. Plumb, editor of the Atlas of Australian Resources since early 1956, describes the preparation and contents of its first edition, Australia’s first national atlas. The Department of National Development began the project under Konrad Frenzel in 1951 and completed publication in September 1960. Its thirty sheets contain eighty-two maps; twenty-five sheets show Australia at 1:6,000,000. Each sheet has a commentary booklet containing explanatory text, statistics, diagrams and supplementary maps, with most commentaries written by outside contributors. A team of no more than seven geographers and draughtsmen assembled material from government agencies, universities and private bodies, often undertaking substantial work to reconcile differently recorded data. Compilation balanced reference coverage with readability, favoured information of lasting relevance, and tested symbols and representation methods for clarity and comparability. Plumb traces checking, fair drawing on Astralon, colour separation and offset printing. Nine printers made stylistic uniformity difficult; replacing photographic reduction with drawing at publication scale improved registration but increased drafting work and delayed completion. The thematic survey covers physical resources, industries, population and services, explaining selected mapping solutions and omissions. Proposed maps of development problems lacked sufficient data, while potential-development maps would have depended on assumptions whose lasting value Plumb questioned. He concludes that the atlas assembled nationally comparable information and exposed gaps in knowledge, but that generalisation limited its direct planning use; its chief value was as an accessible national reference. The introductory note also records his ongoing preparation of a second series, planned to include revised maps and new topics, without describing its completed publication or accompanying booklets.