MAP IN CONCRETE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1940, Page 8

MAP IN CONCRETE

NOVEL SCHOOL APPOINTMENT. Geography has been made more interesting than ever to the boys of Audley Park Senior School. Torquay, for under the direction of their headmaster and a geography specialist, they have made, in concrete, an enormous map of the world bn Mercator's projection. They cleared a site measuring 72 feet by 54 feet, marking it into 192 squares. The outlines of the continents were drawn, plywood shutterings were fitted carefully into place, and between these concrete was poured. The fact that 30 tons of concrete were required, gives some idea of the impressive size of the map. The position of the equator and the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer are marked by means of poles between which wires are stretched. The sea is represented by stone chippings. So far the surface of the map is flat | but as work progresses the chief mountain ranges, river basins, watersheds, and so on will be shown modelled in relief. Belts of forest will be represented by means of broad strips of differently coloured muslin to denote the tropical and sub-tropical, temperate, and polar zones. This fascinating map will in time also show the disposition of the races, white, yellow, and black. By means of colour the areas will be shown where wheat and maize, rice and cotton, and other commodities are grown commercially, together with the districts where sheep and cattle are reared. The great trade routes will be charted along' which travel a ceaseless stream of ex-

portable goods to all parts of the world.

The map can be used in teaching a variety of subjects. While learning history, for instance, the boys will be able to trace the ancient spice routes, and the sea routes along which in medieval days were borne the treasures of the East, the gorgeous silks and velvets which can be seen in the magnificent pictures of the Renaissance Venetian painters.