Abstract
MR. CALVERT describes his book as “a simple statement of such historical facts as I could collect; and a reproduction of certain maps which more or less illustrate the gradual progress of knowledge regarding the great island continent, now called Australia.” From this it will be inferred that there is nothing strikingly novel in the production. Mr. Calvert has found many tracings on old charts indicating a knowledge of the existence of a great southern continent, and he thinks that probably some individual navigator landed on the western coast of Australia in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, afterwards bringing the news of his discovery to Europe. A large portion of the book is devoted to the voyages of Capt. Cook, the reason being that “he was really the discoverer of Australia in its present geographical configuration.” The volume is well printed, and the maps are finely reproduced. It is doubtful, however, whether the author has added much to elucidate the subject which he treats.
The Discovery of Australia.
By Albert F. Calvert (London: George Philip and Son, 1893.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 49, 28 (1893). https://doi.org/10.1038/049028c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/049028c0