Locating the Eureka Stockade: Use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) in a Historiographical Research Context

摘要

GIS methodology was used for the purpose of locating the disputed site of a historically significant battle, which took place in 1854 when miners on an Australian gold field staged an armed uprising against government forces. The route of the first survey of the area (1854) and the earliest known contour map (1856-1857) were overlaid on a modern street grid. Other features such as the vantage points of illustrators and the authors of eyewitness accounts were also incorporated. The resulting composite map was used as the key reference framework for comparing and critically evaluating a large body of primary and secondary written accounts, and for reaching a conclusion concerning the site.