For more than half a century the connection between Great Britain and her Australian
possessions has been one of growing interest and men of the highest eminence have foreseen and
foretold the ultimate importance of that vast continent within the memory of living man the
roving savage held precarious though unquestioned empire. Of the Australian shores the
North-western was the least known an became towards the close of the year 1836 a subject of
much geographical speculation. Former navigators were almost unanimous in believing that the
deep bays known to indent a large portion of this coast received the waters of extensive
rivers the discovery of which would not only open a route to the interior but afford
facilities for colonizing a part of Australia so near our East Indian territories as to
render its occupation an object of evident importance. [...] This book which was published for
the first time in 1846 is the historical story of the HMS Beagle's journey to Australia in
1837 to 1843. It includes the journey from Plymouth to Port Essington along the northern coast
of Australia.
