Parish maps are a great way to find out who owned what, and
when, across New South Wales during particular time periods. Some of the maps
have basic geographical features drawn on, and all the notes, keys and other
features of these maps make for interesting viewing.
Wagga Wagga City Library’s local studies collection has some
local area parish maps available to look at. If you want to find out what
parish maps are in the collection, go to the library’s homepage, and you can
search the catalogue through the simple search :
Write down the call number – ( the shelf location number) and
when you come into the library you can ask at the Information desk to see the
map you are looking for.
Detail from the Sandy Creek Parish map, showing the beginnings of Coffin Rock
I’ve chosen the Parish of Coffin Rock to look at, which has a very
intriguing name and it is not well known though comparatively close in to Wagga
Wagga. A quick search through the Daily Advertiser newspapers online in Trove shows
that Coffin Rock, though “sparsely populated” was a thriving little community
with sports days, picnic meetings and more in the last century.
This excerpt is from the Daily Advertiser, Friday 26th of January, 1923.
If you would like to look at the Daily Advertiser newspapers available through Trove :
There are a number of websites that are useful if you are doing historical research and particularly wanting to use maps and similar type records. Here is a link to the Land and Property Information NSW website, where you can search for Parish Maps :
To read or download a series of five guides to searching maps and other historical records online :
Happy researching !
