The Voyage to Marege: Macassan Trepangers in Northern Australia by C C Macknight

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. This book has not been stored well or has been dropped from a height, causing it to appear buckled. Body text and binding are still very good.

2017 reprint of the 1976 first edition.

This book throws open an entirely new window upon Australian history. Almost a century before Captain Cook voyaged along Australia's north-east coast, sailors from Asia were frequent visitors to 'Marege' (as they called the region) and had even established an industry there.

Men from Macassar made the long and dangerous voyage to gather and to dry the trepang (beche-de-mer or sea slug) so prized as a culinary delicacy by the Chinese. Trade between Australia and China was already old, long before the first export cargo sailed from Sydney Town.

This strikingly original contribution to the maritime and commercial history of the region is unique also in the diverse sources and disciplines it employs—documents, archaeological 'digs', ethnographic evidence, and personal interviews with old men in Macassar who sailed as youths with the trepang fleets—all of which contribute to the remarkable story. The detailed description of trepanging is of great and unusual interest.