A Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies
London, Hamilton, Adams and Co., 1843.
Octavo, xviii, 560, cxliv (appendices) pages with 15 in-text woodcut illustrations (or small groups of illustrations) plus 15 etchings (one folding, 'A Chain Gang') and 3 large folding maps, with tracks of journeys marked in red. The plates are from artwork by Backhouse; the folding plate is on a tinted yellow background; the other 14 plates are mounted 'India paper' prints; the three maps are by James Wyld.
Reinserted in the original blind-decorated green cloth, retaining the original yellow endpapers; spine reinforced with cloth on the verso; endpaper hinges reinforced with matching paper; cloth a little mottled, marked, rubbed, and sunned on the spine, with minor wear to the extremities; some foxing to the plates, with a light marginal stain to three of them (just touching the image surface of the folding plate); head of the stub of each map reinforced with a small piece of cloth (very old but neat repairs); a very good copy with occasional pencilling (but see below).
Provenance: Johannes Leigh-Jones, Sydney; later (1948) Frederick Walter ('Doc Robbie') Robinson (1888-1971), University of Queensland (the founder of the University's Fryer Library and one of the instigators of the John Oxley Library, now part of the State Library of Queensland). The occasional pencilled corrections, emphases and trenchant comments are in his hand. James Backhouse (1794-1869), naturalist and Quaker missionary, travelled throughout Australia with George Washington Walker. 'From their arrival at Hobart Town in February 1832 until their departure from Fremantle in February 1838, they visited from house to house in most of the scattered Australian settlements and found much demand for their services. During their three years in Van Diemen's Land (1832-34) Lieutenant-Governor (Sir) George Arthur found many useful tasks for them. His ready co-operation and disregard of red tape contrasted with that of the naval authorities in London who had refused their proffered services in a Sydney-bound convict transport because they lacked official status. In later voyages in convict ships in Australian waters Backhouse's medical knowledge helped the sick and wounded. Arthur granted the missionaries free access to all penal and Aboriginal establishments, encouraged their investigations and urged them to suggest improvements. They gave Arthur eight valuable reports on the penal settlements of Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur, the Aboriginal establishment on Flinders Island, the conditions of road-gangs, chain-gangs, assigned servants and their masters, and the Van Diemen's Land Co., with the result that some newspapers labelled them government spies. In New South Wales and its dependencies Governor Sir Richard Bourke encouraged similar work in 1835-37, and in three reports to him they described the penal settlements of Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay and Port Macquarie, and the Aboriginal station in Wellington Valley' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). Between November 1837 and February 1838 'they visited Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, in each place promoting temperance and Aboriginal protection committees'. He published numerous tracts and pamphlets, and three major works; the latter, 'with the ponderous style of the period belie the sense of humour and straightforward simplicity for which he was so well known and liked, but they have provided valuable material on Australian Aboriginals [sic] and convict conditions'. Ferguson 3558.
Item #105765
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