Beginning with the Portuguese and Dutch voyagers and with Dampier, the first Englishman to land in Australia, the authors follow the naval officers who made settlement possible. Four sea-captains in turn governed the penal colony of New South Wales, starting with Arthur Phillip, and the book records their struggles with famine, convicts, mutinous soldiers and visiting French expeditions such as Baudin’s.
Ends where most histories of Australia begin, so it fills a real gap for readers of colonial and maritime history. Download the free EPUB.