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Occurrence records for named, native Australian millipedes from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) were compared with the same records from the Millipedes of Australia (MoA) website, compiled independently by the author. The comparison revealed some previously unnoticed errors in MoA, and a much larger number of errors and other problems in the aggregated datasets. Errors have been corrected in MoA and in some data providers' databases, but will remain in GBIF and ALA until data providers have supplied updates to these aggregators. An audit by a specialist volunteer, as reported here, is not a common occurrence. It is suggested that aggregators should do more, or more effective, data checking and should query data providers when possible errors are detected, rather than simply disclaim responsibility for aggregated content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of paleogeographic reconstructions have been published, with applications ranging from paleoclimate, ocean circulation and faunal radiation models to resource exploration; yet their uncertainties remain difficult to assess as they are generally presented as low-resolution static maps. We present a methodology for ground-truthing the digital Palaeogeographic Atlas of Australia by linking the GPlates plate reconstruction tool to the global Paleobiology Database and a Phanerozoic plate motion model. We develop a spatiotemporal data mining workflow to validate the Phanerozoic Palaeogeographic Atlas of Australia with paleoenvironments derived from fossil data. While there is general agreement between fossil data and the paleogeographic model, the methodology highlights key inconsistencies. The Early Devonian paleogeographic model of southeastern Australia insufficiently describes the Emsian inundation that may be refined using biofacies distributions. Additionally, the paleogeographic model and fossil data can be used to strengthen numerical models, such as the dynamic topography and the associated inundation of eastern Australia during the Cretaceous. Although paleobiology data provide constraints only for paleoenvironments with high preservation potential of organisms, our approach enables the use of additional proxy data to generate improved paleogeographic reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the use of photography and drawing or painting for the illustrations of Australian pictorial atlases during the late nineteenth-century. It states that several technological changes were seen in the printing and publishing industries during this period. The author says that lithography was an inexpensive process that enabled the inclusion of more images in atlases; and the linotype machine further reduced the printing costs.

The article presents information on the making of the book "An Atlas of Australia's Wars." The author says that an idea to write the book came when he was instructing cadets in military history in Australia in 1963. It took the author 40 years to complete the book. The preparation of the book was part of Australia's Centenary History of Defence project. The manuscript of the first edition of the book was completed in August 2001, the year of Australia's Centenary of Federation. The author elaborates on the methods and techniques he employed in writing the book.

The article focuses on the plethora of maps made in Queensland between 1860 and 1880 despite the challenges faced by those making maps in an era when lithographers used limestones to make maps. Subjects mapped included the entire colony, major towns, railway routes, electoral and pastoral districts and the evolving cadastre. Two atlases of the new colony were even issued, a feat never repeated. Moreover, after the issue of the 1878 Atlas of Queensland, almost a hundred years passed before another atlas of the state was produced. Booksellers continued to commission and publish maps of Queensland during the 1870s. Edward Stanford's 1861 map of Queensland published as part of a book on Queensland was updated and re-issued as a separate map in 1870. The types of maps produced fall into two broad categories. Maps of the entire colony were mainly issued by booksellers and specialist map and atlas producers. Neither the government nor bookseller or specialist map and atlas producers, however, issued any topographic maps or thematic maps showing soil-types, vegetation or climate of the new colony. Settlers in some instances had to wait for almost fifty years before these types of maps were produced.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the results of the Australian government's Biodiversity Fund and Carbon Farming Initiative, the use of the Atlas of Living Australia to check the viability of site-native species in a changing climate, and climate change mitigation.