Guide to the L.J. Blake Map Collection, ca. 1852 – ca. 1974

Summary

Collection number:

MFC 6

Creator:

Blake, Les J.

Extent:

28 items and in 1 map folder

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of map item], L.J. Blake Map Collection, National Library of Australia, [item number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The L.J. Blake Special Map Collection consists primarily of manuscript and printed cadastral and mining maps showing counties, parishes, shires, towns and mining regions in Victoria. The maps in this collection were collected by L.J. Blake as research materials for his studies of Victorian goldfields, overlanding, and local histories of Victorian localities. Comprises items 1-28.

Biographical Note:

Blake was born in Bendigo, Victoria in 1913. He joined the Victorian Education Department in 1931 and attended the Melbourne Teachers' College in 1934. From 1935 to 1942 he taught at country schools and, after serving in New Guinea and New Britain with the AIF, he taught at Geelong schools from 1946 to 1953. He graduated B.A. and Dip. Ed. At Melbourne University in 1952 and went on to gain the B.Ed. in 1954. He lectured at Geelong Teachers' College from 1953 to 1958. He then became a District Inspector of Schools, based at Horsham (1958), Ferntree Gully (1964), Doncaster (1967) and Frankston (1972). He retired from the Public Service in 1976.

Blake published his first book, Teaching social studies, in 1956. He was the author of more than twenty books, including Australian Writers (1968), Gold escort (1971), Place Names of Victoria (1976), Peter Lalor: the Man from Eureka (1979), several works on John Shaw Neilson and many Victorian local histories. As historian of the Education Department, Blake edited and co-authored the huge Vision and Realisation: A centenary history of state education in Victoria (3 vols. 1973). In 1974 he was seconded to the Premier's Department as State Historian and edited Letters of Charles Joseph La Trobe (1975). He continued to write on historical subjects until his death.

Blake was awarded an O.B.E. in 1974 for Services to education, to history and to the community. He was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and of the Australian College of Education and was made an honorary Master of Education by the University of Melbourne in 1974.

Blake died in Melbourne on 4 June 1987.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

Donated to the National Library of Australia by L.J. Blake, c.1986. Maps Section received from Manuscripts Section of NLA in 1989.

Related

Separated Material:

View the catalogue record for the Papers of L. J. Blake, 1845-1990, at MS 7033.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2038331).

Conditions Governing Use:

Some of the items within this collection, including some that have been made available as digitised images, are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of map item], L.J. Blake Map Collection, National Library of Australia, [item number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

Contact us