Online photo library shows Queensland across the decades
Published Sunday, 22 January, 2017 at 08:15 AM
Acting Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
The Honourable Bill Byrne
Ever wondered what your street looked like in the 1950s? It’s now available free online as 800,000 Queensland Government aerial images go digital.
Acting Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Bill Byrne today announced the new QImagery online collection - one of Australia’s most thorough collections of aerial photographs with images dating back to the 1930s.
“Local history buffs will be able to take a walk down memory lane and see how their street has changed over the decades, as well as tracking changes to their school, workplace or major infrastructure development over time,” he said.
“QImagery takes these photos out of the dark room archives, and sorts them in a way that makes it meaningful and accessible to all Queenslanders.”
The Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) and its predecessors have collected the aerial photographs as part of the coordinated State Aerial Photography Program that commenced in 1949.
The collection is a reference for topographic mapping and for infrastructure planning such as roads and railway, monitoring coastal landscapes, and for flood management.
DNRM has created digital versions of the photographs and overlayed them on an online map, making them available to anyone to search, and access, for free.
The collection includes aerial images comparing Noosa Heads in 1967 and 2002; Gladstone in 1959 and 1998; Broadbeach in 1930, 1955 and 2002; a flooded Birdsville in 1974 compared with a dry Birdsville in 1999; and the site of the Gateway Bridge pre-construction in 1958, during construction in 1982 and a completed version in 2002.
QImagery is one of a wave of new investments in spatial technologies helping Queenslanders – such as the soon to be released updated Queensland Globe, which provides public access to the latest high-quality and detailed topographic information of the State.
Mr Byrne said the digital images could now be preserved for future generations, unlike the old film versions.
To access QImagery, visit https://qimagery.information.qld.gov.au