To Sail Beyond The Sunset - Natural History In Australia 1699 - 1829: 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 of the known world and science added impetus to the exploration of the mysterious southern latitudes. This history begins with the incredulous reactions of Dampier and of the later naturalists that followed - they found not gold, but a vast treasury of bizarre plants and animals that challenged the imagination and existing scientific dogma. Collectors such as George Caley, John Lewin and Allan Cunningham demanded the outlandish specimens. Apart from beautiful colour sketches of flora and fauna, there are also extracts from contemporary logs, journals and letters which give the fascination, bewilderment and enthusiasm at first hand.