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Narrative of a voyage from Sydney to Torres' Straits : in search of the survivors of the Charles Eaton, in His Majesty's colonial schooner Isabella, C.M. Lewis, commander / by William Edward Brockett.
Title: Narrative of a voyage from Sydney to Torres' Straits : in search of the survivors of the Charles Eaton, in His Majesty's colonial schooner Isabella, C.M. Lewis, commander / by William Edward Brockett.
Rare Book
Type: Rare Book
RB D994.02/BRO/RARE BOOKS
Call no: RB D994.02/BRO/RARE BOOKS
Sydney : Henry Bull,
Publisher: Sydney : Henry Bull,
1836.
Year: 1836.
Lewis, C. M. ; Charles Eaton (Ship) ; Isabella (Ship : Captain = C. M. Lewis) ; Torres Strait Islanders. ; Torres Strait Islanders (Qld TSI SC54, SC55). aiatsisl ; Torres Strait Islands (Qld.) - Description and travel. ; Torres Strait Islands (Qld TSI SC54, SC55-05). aiatsisp
vii, 54 p., [12] leaves of plates : ill., 1 port. ; 22 cm.
Physical description: vii, 54 p., [12] leaves of plates : ill., 1 port. ; 22 cm.
Illustrations drawn by W.H. Fernyhough. Reissued with variant imprint on cover, London : sold by J. Cross, 1837. (Ferguson no.2239)
Ferguson,
no. 2095 and 2239.
Ferguson,
no. 2095 and 2239.
Notes: Illustrations drawn by W.H. Fernyhough. Reissued with variant imprint on cover, London : sold by J. Cross, 1837. (Ferguson no.2239)
Ferguson,
no. 2095 and 2239.
Ferguson,
no. 2095 and 2239.
https://library.australian.museum//fullRecord.jsp?recno=39975
Record Link:
https://library.australian.museum// fullRecord.jsp?recno=39975
Note from Stan Florek: This expedition went ostensibly to search for the survivors of the Charles Eaton that was wrecked in the Torres Strait Islands in 1834. Phillip Parker King, the Trustee of the Australian Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, was
the expedition member and the collection assembled then was one of the museum's earliest cultural collections. It was not a collecting expedition as such, but the collection was probably a border case, not made specifically but almost destined for the AM. Extremely scarce: an important coastal voyage account, with a fascinating series of
lithograph illustrations by W.H. Fernyhough. This is one of the most ambitious Sydneyprinted accounts of the 1830s, and the earliest Sydney work to pay serious attention to the pictorial and visual history of the Aborigines of the Torres Strait, let alone incorporate detailed ethnographic illustrations. The book provides ample evidence of an increasingly sophisticated attempt to understand the culture of the region. This is the account of the coastal voyage of the schooner Isabella to Torres Strait in search of survivors from the wreck of the Charles Eaton, which was lost on 29 July 1834. Brockett was a junior officer on board the Isabella, which was sent by Governor Bourke to investigate after news of survivors of the wreck reached Sydney in April 1836. The Isabella rescued only two survivors, the cabin boy John Ireland, and a young infant, William D'Oyley; most of the crew had been massacred in the hours after they first reached shore, their skulls carefully preserved as part of the complicated head-hunting rituals of the region. As a result, the Isabella also brought back several gruesome artefacts, including the "Aurid Trophy", a tortoise-shell surrounded by skulls. The European skulls on the trophy were interred, and the artefact itself was given to the Australian Museum, but is thought to have been lost in the 1882 fire, meaning that Fernyhough's illustrations here are all the more significant.
The narrative is greatly enriched by the full-page lithographs done by the Sydney
engraver William Fernyhough, which were applauded by all of the Sydney newspapers, at a time of more than usually fierce partisan rivalry. Brockett's own drawings were the basis for the lithographs, with the exception of the frontispiece which is after a sketch done by another rescuer, William Igglesdon. Fernyhough emigrated to Australia in 1836 and worked for the firm of J.G. Austin & Co., Sydney and the captions here also bear their name.
lithograph illustrations by W.H. Fernyhough. This is one of the most ambitious Sydneyprinted accounts of the 1830s, and the earliest Sydney work to pay serious attention to the pictorial and visual history of the Aborigines of the Torres Strait, let alone incorporate detailed ethnographic illustrations. The book provides ample evidence of an increasingly sophisticated attempt to understand the culture of the region. This is the account of the coastal voyage of the schooner Isabella to Torres Strait in search of survivors from the wreck of the Charles Eaton, which was lost on 29 July 1834. Brockett was a junior officer on board the Isabella, which was sent by Governor Bourke to investigate after news of survivors of the wreck reached Sydney in April 1836. The Isabella rescued only two survivors, the cabin boy John Ireland, and a young infant, William D'Oyley; most of the crew had been massacred in the hours after they first reached shore, their skulls carefully preserved as part of the complicated head-hunting rituals of the region. As a result, the Isabella also brought back several gruesome artefacts, including the "Aurid Trophy", a tortoise-shell surrounded by skulls. The European skulls on the trophy were interred, and the artefact itself was given to the Australian Museum, but is thought to have been lost in the 1882 fire, meaning that Fernyhough's illustrations here are all the more significant.
The narrative is greatly enriched by the full-page lithographs done by the Sydney
engraver William Fernyhough, which were applauded by all of the Sydney newspapers, at a time of more than usually fierce partisan rivalry. Brockett's own drawings were the basis for the lithographs, with the exception of the frontispiece which is after a sketch done by another rescuer, William Igglesdon. Fernyhough emigrated to Australia in 1836 and worked for the firm of J.G. Austin & Co., Sydney and the captions here also bear their name.
more...
Abstract:
Note from Stan Florek: This expedition went ostensibly to search for the survivors of the Charles Eaton that was wrecked in the Torres Strait Islands in 1834. Phillip Parker King, the Trustee of the Australian Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, was
the expedition member and the collection assembled then was one of the museum's earliest cultural collections. It was not a collecting expedition as such, but the collection was probably a border case, not made specifically but almost destined for the AM. Extremely scarce: an important coastal voyage account, with a fascinating series of
lithograph illustrations by W.H. Fernyhough. This is one of the most ambitious Sydneyprinted accounts of the 1830s, and the earliest Sydney work to pay serious attention to the pictorial and visual history of the Aborigines of the Torres Strait, let alone incorporate detailed ethnographic illustrations. The book provides ample evidence of an increasingly sophisticated attempt to understand the culture of the region. This is the account of the coastal voyage of the schooner Isabella to Torres Strait in search of survivors from the wreck of the Charles Eaton, which was lost on 29 July 1834. Brockett was a junior officer on board the Isabella, which was sent by Governor Bourke to investigate after news of survivors of the wreck reached Sydney in April 1836. The Isabella rescued only two survivors, the cabin boy John Ireland, and a young infant, William D'Oyley; most of the crew had been massacred in the hours after they first reached shore, their skulls carefully preserved as part of the complicated head-hunting rituals of the region. As a result, the Isabella also brought back several gruesome artefacts, including the "Aurid Trophy", a tortoise-shell surrounded by skulls. The European skulls on the trophy were interred, and the artefact itself was given to the Australian Museum, but is thought to have been lost in the 1882 fire, meaning that Fernyhough's illustrations here are all the more significant.
The narrative is greatly enriched by the full-page lithographs done by the Sydney
engraver William Fernyhough, which were applauded by all of the Sydney newspapers, at a time of more than usually fierce partisan rivalry. Brockett's own drawings were the basis for the lithographs, with the exception of the frontispiece which is after a sketch done by another rescuer, William Igglesdon. Fernyhough emigrated to Australia in 1836 and worked for the firm of J.G. Austin & Co., Sydney and the captions here also bear their name.
lithograph illustrations by W.H. Fernyhough. This is one of the most ambitious Sydneyprinted accounts of the 1830s, and the earliest Sydney work to pay serious attention to the pictorial and visual history of the Aborigines of the Torres Strait, let alone incorporate detailed ethnographic illustrations. The book provides ample evidence of an increasingly sophisticated attempt to understand the culture of the region. This is the account of the coastal voyage of the schooner Isabella to Torres Strait in search of survivors from the wreck of the Charles Eaton, which was lost on 29 July 1834. Brockett was a junior officer on board the Isabella, which was sent by Governor Bourke to investigate after news of survivors of the wreck reached Sydney in April 1836. The Isabella rescued only two survivors, the cabin boy John Ireland, and a young infant, William D'Oyley; most of the crew had been massacred in the hours after they first reached shore, their skulls carefully preserved as part of the complicated head-hunting rituals of the region. As a result, the Isabella also brought back several gruesome artefacts, including the "Aurid Trophy", a tortoise-shell surrounded by skulls. The European skulls on the trophy were interred, and the artefact itself was given to the Australian Museum, but is thought to have been lost in the 1882 fire, meaning that Fernyhough's illustrations here are all the more significant.
The narrative is greatly enriched by the full-page lithographs done by the Sydney
engraver William Fernyhough, which were applauded by all of the Sydney newspapers, at a time of more than usually fierce partisan rivalry. Brockett's own drawings were the basis for the lithographs, with the exception of the frontispiece which is after a sketch done by another rescuer, William Igglesdon. Fernyhough emigrated to Australia in 1836 and worked for the firm of J.G. Austin & Co., Sydney and the captions here also bear their name.
more...
Narrative of a voyage from Sydney to Torres' Straits : in search of the survivors of the Charles Eaton, in His Majesty's colonial schooner Isabella, C.M. Lewis, commander / by William Edward Brockett.