Australia—Henry Callander | Manuscript Map of Sydney, hand-coloured, 1849

Australia—Henry Callander

"Map of the Town of Sydney 1849."

Manuscript map (266 x 447 mm.), hand-coloured and signed "H.C. fecit" on lower-right-hand corner, inscribed "To Mr & Mrs Callander, Scotland from their affectionate son Henry Callander." beneath title, dissected into 9 sections and backed on linen, upper-left-hand section mounted on linen boards, printed label "Map of Sydney. 1849." to upper board, small amount of adhesive residue at very edges of paper (not affecting map), remains of old masking tape to inside of upper board, spotting to boards

Henry Callander (1821-1852) was the eldest son of Randall Callander of Craigforth, Stirlingshire (1786-1858). He had travelled to New South Wales in around 1840 to work in government service, leaving his parents in Scotland. (The New South Wales Government Gazette of 9 December 1840 mentions the appointment of "Mr. Henry Callander to be Clerk of Petty Sessions, at Queanbeyan, in the room of Mr. Rae resigned"). He married in Sydney in 1848 and was working for HM Customs at the time of his death. The map itself is similar to W.H. Wells's engraved map of Sydney of 1843 but shows development of the city between 1483 and 1849. An inscription in Callander's hand on the reverse of the map, on the section pasted to the lower board, reads "All the houses are not | [?] here drawn but enough I believe to give | some idea of the [?] size and | position of the city. | H.C.". According to the title of the map, the population of Sydney in 1849 was just 47,000 whereas the city is currently home to some 5.3 million people.