Matthew Flinders
A Voyage to Terra Australis - Flindersia Australis
Subtitle: undertaken for the purpose of
completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in
the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the
Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and
Cumberland Schooner; with an account of the shipwreck of the
Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment
of the commander during six years and a half in that island.
2 volumes & atlas
1814
G. & W. Nicol, London, publisher
W. Bulmer and Co., London, printer
William Westall, artist
Ferdinand Bauer, botanical artist
After his 1798 voyage with George Bass to prove that Van
Diemen's Land was separated from Terra Australis, in 1801 Matthew
Flinders was given a ship to catch up, and hopefully, overtake, the
French expedition under Nicolas Baudin to map the unknown south
coast of Terra Australis before they did. It was necessary to
discover if New South Wales, claimed by Cook for England, was
separate from New Holland, the west coast named by the Dutch.
Also on board HMS Investigator were artists William Westall and
Ferdinand Bauer, and eminent botanist Robert Brown.
These volumes are considered the most outstanding books on the
coastal exploration of Australia and the centrepiece of any
collection of discovery. The atlas is rare and usually
missing, this imprint includes the Admiralty charts, William
Westall's coastal views and Bauer's botanical plates.