Australia & Oceania Books

In offering to the public an account of Expeditions of Discovery in Australia, undertaken in the years 1840-1, and completed in July of the latter year, some apology may be deemed necessary for this narrative not having sooner appeared, or perhaps even for its being now published at all. With respect to the first, the author would remark that soon after his return to South Australia upon the close of... more...

PREFACE. A few words by way of Preface are requisite, in order that the objects of the present Work may be stated to the reader, and that he may also be made acquainted with the sources whence the information here communicated is derived, and from consulting which he may still further inform himself concerning Australia. The aim of the writer of the following pages has been,—while furnishing a... more...

CHAPTER I A “Sleeping Beauty” land—The coming of the English—Early explorations—The resourceful Australian. The fairy-story of the Sleeping Beauty might have been thought out by someone having Australia in his mind. She was the Sleeping Beauty among the lands of the earth—a great continent, delicately beautiful in her natural features, wonderfully rich in wealth of soil and of mine, left... more...

I.The Voyage of the Hampshire. Voyage to Australia has in these days become so ordinary an affair that it may seem to require an apology to attempt to describe one, but a voyage in a sailing ship is so different from that in a steamer that it may interest some people. It is, as a rule, only those who go abroad for their health who prefer a sailing ship, on account of the great length of the voyage, in... more...

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY—THE EARLIEST AUSTRALIAN VOYAGERS: THE PORTUGUESE, SPANISH, AND DUTCH. Learned geographers have gone back to very remote times, even to the Middle Ages, and, by the aid of old maps, have set up ingenious theories showing that the Australian continent was then known to explorers. Some evidence has been adduced of a French voyage in which the continent was discovered in the youth... more...

CHAPTER I. Introductory. — First View of New Zealand. — First Sight of the Natives, and First Sensations experienced by a mere Pakeha. — A Maori Chief's Notions of Trading in the Old Times. — A Dissertation on "Courage." — A few Words on Dress. — The Chief's Soliloquy. — The Maori Cry of Welcome. Ah! those good old times, when first I came to... more...

PART I NEW SOUTH WALES. The colony of New South Wales is situated on the eastern coast of New Holland. This island, which was first discovered by the Dutch in 1616, lies between the 9 degrees and 39 degrees of south latitude, and the 108 degrees and 153 degrees of east longitude; and from its immense size, seems rather to merit the appellation of continent, which many geographers have bestowed on it.... more...

INTRODUCTION. Eighty years ago, when the story told in these pages was first published, "forecastle yarns" were more thrilling than they are now. In these days we look for information in regard to a new land's capabilities for pastoral, agricultural, and commercial pursuits; in those days it was customary, with a large portion of the British public, at any rate, to expect sailors to tell... more...

CHAPTER 3.1. Route proposed.Equipment.List of the Men.Agreement with a native guide.Livestock.Corrobory-dance of the natives.Visit to the Limestone caves.Osseous breccia.Mount Granard, first point to be attained.Halt on a dry creek.Break a wheel.Attempt to ascend Marga.Snakes.View from Marga.Reach the Lachlan.Find its channel dry. ROUTE PROPOSED. Towards the end of the year 1835 I was apprised that the... more...

CHAPTER I. Departure from Port Jackson, with the Lady Nelson.Examination of various parts of the East Coast, from thence to Sandy Cape.Break-sea Spit.Anchorage in Hervey's Bay, where the Lady Nelson joins after a separation.Some account of the inhabitants.Variations of the compass.Run to Bustard Bay.Port Curtis discovered, and examined.Some account of the surrounding country.Arrival in Keppel Bay,... more...