Discoveries in Australia
With an Account of the Hitherto Unknown Coasts Surveyed during the Voyage of the HMS Beagle, between the Years 1837 and 1843

An 1846 account by an officer of H.M.S. Beagle of a six-year expedition to survey the coast of Australia.

John Lort Stokes (Author)

9781108032711, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 September 2011

588 pages, 30 b/w illus. 3 maps
21.6 x 14 x 3.3 cm, 0.74 kg

John Lort Stokes (1812–85) was a naval officer on board H.M.S. Beagle - the same ship that had carried naturalist Charles Darwin around the world in 1831–6. Stokes served on that expedition and on the following commission, which was a survey of Australia in which the crew was charged with discovering more about the largely unknown land mass. The expedition set off in 1837 and Stokes did not return to England until 1843 - after 18 years of service on the Beagle - when he began work on this two-volume account of the voyage, which was published in 1846. This work provides a detailed narrative of the journey, including interaction with indigenous peoples and observations about the natural world in Australia, making it an important source about the early years of the European colony. Volume 1 covers Stokes' time exploring north-west Australia and includes illustrations of plants, insects, and reptiles.

Introduction
1. Introduction
2. Plymouth to Bahia
3. From the Cape to Swan River
4. From Swan River to Roebuck Bay
5. From Roebuck Bay to Skeleton Point
6. Point Cunningham to Fitz-Roy River
7. The Fitz-Roy River to Port George the Fourth, and return to Swan River
8. Swan River to Sydney
9. Bass Strait
10. Sydney to Port Essington
11. Port Essington
12. Leave Port Essington
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]