Locating the Eureka Stockade: Use of a geographical information system (GIS) in a historiographical research context

Abstract

GIS methodology was used for thepurpose of locating the disputed site of ahistorically significant battle, which tookplace in 1854 when miners on an Australian goldfield staged an armed uprising againstgovernment forces. The route of the firstsurvey of the area (1854) and the earliestknown contour map (1856–1857) were overlaid on amodern street grid. Other features such as thevantage points of illustrators and the authorsof eyewitness accounts were also incorporated. The resulting composite map was used as the keyreference framework for comparing andcritically evaluating a large body of primaryand secondary written accounts, and forreaching a conclusion concerning the site.