C. M. Finney
To sail beyond the sunset to find the fabled 'Great South Land' and claim its gold and treasure was the dream of generations of Europeans. In the eighteenth century, a desire to push even further the boundaries both of the known world and of science added impetus to the exploration of the mysterious southern latitudes by explorers such as Dampier. C.M. Finney traces the development of natural history in Australia, beginning with the first incredulous reactions of Dampier and of the later naturalists who followed in the wake of explorers and military surveyors. They found not gold but a vast natural treasury of bizarre and alien plants and animals that challenged both the imagination and existing scientific dogma. The platypus was for many years named the 'paradox' because of its apparently unclassifiable and unnatural combination of characteristics. Collectors who supplied the insatiable demand in Europe for such outlandish specimens included such famous figures as John Lewin, George Caley, and Allan Cunningham. This volume ends in the early years of the nineteenth century, a watershed in Australian natural history when fifty years after the British colonisation of New South Wales, Australian-based naturalists were already laying the foundations for their new land's scientific independence. Extracts from contemporary logs, journals, and letters allow the reader to share firsthand the fascination, bewilderment, and enthusiasm of Australian scientific pioneers. Finney's impeccable research also provides the reader with a fresh and original insight into Australia's early social and political life; a lively history full of surprising and little-known facts, such as the cosmopolitan exploratory parties that visited Australian shores, including a Russian expedition, and the personal feuds between fellow naturalists and between naturalists and governors. Accompanying the text is a magnificent collection of over one hundred illustrations, both colour and black and white, in
Read this work at the World Public Library (library card needed).