Australian Navigators: Picking Up Shells and Catching Butterflies in an Age of Revolution by Robert Tiley

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Top foredge is sunned. Interior and binding are still very good.

In the mid-1700s, Australia was a largely forgotten curiosity at the bottom of the world. Still only partly mapped by the Dutch explorers who had made a series of often disastrous visits in the previous century. It was regarded as too distant, too hostile and too much trouble.

Then came the Australian Navigators. Within 40 years, one of the bloodiest in European history, legendary explorers, including Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, James Cook, Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, William Bligh, George Bass, Nicolas Baudin, and Matthew Flinders, undertook the perilous journeys of exploration to the southern continent.

In this intriguing book, Robert Tiley examines the roots of this era in war-torn Europe and the complex aims of the backers who supported and promoted these expeditions.

A great deal has been written on these explorers. This book captures the spirit of the era and the personalities and ambitions of the individuals involved. (back cover)