Books Should Be Free
Loyal Books
Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads
Search by: Title, Author or Keyword

The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888   By: (1845-1908)

Book cover

First Page:

The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888.

Complied from State Documents, Private Papers and the most authentic sources of information. Issued under the auspices of the Government of the Australian Colonies.

by

Ernest Favenc.

Sydney: Turner and Henderson 1888

Dedication.

TO

THE HON. SIR HENRY PARKES, G.C.M.G., C.C.I., M.P., AS THE OLDEST RULING STATESMAN IN AUSTRALIA, AND IN THE PRESENT CENTENARY YEAR THE PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES, THE MOTHER COLONY, FROM WHENCE FIRST STARTED THOSE EXPLORATIONS BY LAND AND SEA, WHICH HAVE RESULTED IN THROWING OPEN TO THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD A NEW CONTINENT, NOW RAPIDLY DEVELOPING, UNDER FREE CONSTITUTIONS, A PROSPEROUS, CONTENTED, AND SELF GOVERNING COMMUNITY, THIS HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION IS DEDICATED.

ERNEST FAVENC, SYDNEY, 1888.

PREFACE.

A complete history of the exploration of Australia will never be written. The story of the settlement of our continent is necessarily so intermixed with the results of private travels and adventures, that all the historian can do is to follow out the career of the public expeditions, and those of private origin which extended to such a distance, and embraced such important discoveries, as to render the results matters of national history.

That private individuals have done the bulk of the detail work there is no denying; but that work, although every whit as useful to the community as the more brilliant exploits that carried with them the publicity of Government patronage, has not found the same careful preservation.

To find the material to write such a history would necessitate the work of a lifetime, and the co operation of hundreds of old colonists; and, when written, it would inevitably, from the nature of the subject, prove most monotonous reading, and fill, I am afraid to think, how many volumes. The reader has but to consider the immense area of country now under pastoral occupation, and to remember that each countless subordinate river and tributary creek was the result of some extended research of the pioneer squatter, to realise this.

Since the hope of finding an inland sea, or main central range, vanished for ever, the explorer cannot hope to discover anything much more exciting or interesting than country fitted for human habitation. The attributes of the native tribes are very similar throughout. Since the day when Captain Phillip and his little band settled down here and tried to gain the friendship of the aboriginal, no startling difference has been found in him throughout the continent. As he was when Dampier came to our shores, so is he now in the yet untrodden parts of Australia, and the explorer knows that from him he can only gain but a hazardous and uncertain tale of what lies beyond.

But, in this utter want of knowledge of the country to be explored, where even the physical laws do not assimilate with those of other continents, lies the great charm of Australian exploration. It is the spectacle of one man pitted against the whole force of nature not the equal struggle of two human antagonists, but the old fable of the subtle dwarf and the self confident giant.

When the battle commenced between Sturt and the interior, he was, as he thought, vanquished, though in reality the victor.

In the history of exploration are to be found some of the brightest examples of courage and fortitude presented by any record. In the succeeding pages I have tried to bring these episodes prominently to the fore, and bestow upon them the meed of history.

In compiling this book I have had the sympathy of many gentlemen, both in this and the neighbouring colonies, and my best thanks are due to them, especially as, owing to it, I have been able to make the work perfectly authentic, and I trust, a thoroughly reliable work of reference.

SYDNEY, 1888.

ERNEST FAVENC.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Part I Rumours of the existence of a Southern Continent in the Sixteenth Century JAVE and JAVE LA GRANDE Authentic Discoveries and visits of the early Navigators Torres sails between New Guinea and Terra Australis Voyage of the DUYFHEN in 1606 Dirk Hartog on the West Coast, his inscribed plate Restored by Vlaming Afterwards by Hamelin Nuyts on the South Coast Wreck of the BATAVIA on Houtman's Abrolhos Mutiny of Cornelis Tasman's second voyage Dampier with the Buccaneers Second Voyage in the ROEBUCK Last visit of the Dutch Captain Cook Flinders; his theory of a Dividing Strait Plans for exploring the Interior His captivity Captain King Concluding remarks... Continue reading book >>




eBook Downloads
ePUB eBook
• iBooks for iPhone and iPad
• Nook
• Sony Reader
Kindle eBook
• Mobi file format for Kindle
Read eBook
• Load eBook in browser
Text File eBook
• Computers
• Windows
• Mac

Review this book



Popular Genres
More Genres
Languages
Paid Books