Doug Lithgow in his study with framed copies of the charts he found in the Hydrographic Office of the British Navy in 2008
The mysterious case of the vanishing “natives”
Doug Lithgow, Freeman of the City of Newcastle, NSW, and noted campaigner for the environment and heritage, can cite many high points in his long life of activism and community involvement. But one of which he is especially proud is his "discovery" of the original hand-drawn map of the mouth of the Hunter River, drawn in 1797 by Lt John Shortland, RN. Actually, the chart wasn't lost. Like much of Newcastle's documentary heritage it was simply kept somewhere other than Newcastle. In this case, the somewhere else was the Hydrographic Office of the British Royal Navy…