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