From the Collection – Maritime Books

The Australiana Research Collection holds many treasures, including books relating to Australia’s maritime history. The most significant books featured in this display are Matthew Flinders’ diaries, published in 1814, of his journey charting the Australian coastline. Featured facsimiles of other firsthand accounts include William Bligh’s notebook and transcription of his journey in the launch of the HMS Bounty following the mutiny, and accounts by explorers Jean La Perouse and Jacob Le Maire of their Australian expeditions. ‘Voyage Around the World’ by Mary Ann Park, first published 1795, with a facsimile issued in 1991, is the first account of the colony of NSW published by a woman.

Image: ‘The launch at sea’; frontispiece to the Dutch edition of the Narrative, 1790, reproduced in ‘The Bligh Notebook’, Volume 2; The Transcription. Canberra; National Library of Australia. 1986.