Queensland

Report on Australian Languages and Traditions (Parts I and II Complete) – Rev William Ridley MA – 1872/3

An original extract from the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1872/73 pages 257-291. Octavo, soft modern wraps for protection, very good copies.

William Ridley (1919-1878) a supporter of the aboriginal community and compiler of languages .. a talented linguist. He arrived in Sydney in 1850 at the request of Rev J.D. Lang. Ordained and went to the New England are which he expanded into Moreton Bay and the Darling Downs. For financial reasons he later took on the roles of pastoralist and Journalist. He continued his interest in the aboriginal people and was the author of a landmark book on the Kumilaroi, Dippil and Turrubul people published in 1866.

These significant papers start with the detail of a thousand plus mile tour around outback NSW. This report is notes to be supplementary to the aforementioned book. Lists “new words” of Paces, with their meaning; Additional Words and Phrases in Kamilaroi, Wailwun etc; Pikumbul – spoken on the Macintyre. He goes on to deal with Social Classification, and Laws of Marriage and Descent; Religious and Mythical Traditions; The Bora; Funeral rites; the Krodjis and their Enchantments; the Recollections of Billy Murri Bundar; Traditions Concerning the Stars [especially interesting to Voyager].

In Part II, Ridley presents his own work on the Kamilaroi, Turrubul and Dippil alongside Gunther and Watson’s on the Wirradhurri, Daniel Bunce in Victoria and Hume on the West Coast. Presenting key words in tabular form.

Rare publication of supplementary work on aboriginal languages and customs by authority William Ridley

$60.00

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Queensland Branch of the Royal Geographical Society – Proceedings 1887 – Interesting Papuan Expedition, Queensland Mountains etc

Vol II part 2 of the 1886-8 Proceedings and Transactions of the Society. Extremely scarce.

Octavo. Printed paper wrappers as issued pages 76-126 after preliminaries, notices etc. Interesting to see Tenison-Woods in attendance at the Meeting. Printed by Watson, Ferguson $ Co of Queens Street, Brisbane. Still surviving Watson Ferguson commenced in 1871 and are Queensland oldest printing business.

A few edge chips and a reference label top front left otherwise very good condition

The journal contains some interesting reports including C.T. Bedford surveying trip from Boulia to the South Australian Border, the Mountains of Queensland by N. Bartley (author of Opals and Agates and his Reminiscences).

The highlight though is the Journal of Mr George Hunter on an Expedition from Kappa Kappa to the Heads of the Kemp Welch River, British New Guinea with a good folding map illustration the journey. Anyone who has been to this part of Papua will remember the beautiful beaches around the Kappa Kappa area.

Early Queensland Geographical Society Publication – Interesting Explorations and Observations on the People of Papua and the Kappa Kappa / Rigo Region

$90.00

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A Journal of the Endeavour Voyager – James Magra

This is a fine facsimile published by Israel Amsterdam in 1967. Note titles “Cook” by Israel but not the author.

The original account … A Journal of a Voyage Round the World in His Majesty’s Ship Endeavour, in the Years 1768,1769,1770 and 1771 etc published by Becket and Hondt in the Strand in 1791. Quarto, 130 pages plus 3 pages of vocabulary of the language of Otahitee.

Published two years before the official Hawkesworth account in 1793 and now generally attributed to James Magra.

James Magra was a New Yorker and American sympathiser and accordingly to James Cook a man of dubious quality. Almost impossible to find in original form … this was the first published book describing the East Coast of Australia and includes for example reference to Stingray Bay the name given to Botany Bay by James Cook before the latter was adopted sometime before Hawkesworth.

Magra’s account and essential Cook ingredient

$80.00

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Sailor and Beachcomber – Safroni-Middleton – First Edition 1915

“Confessions of a Life at Sea, In Australia and amid the Islands of the Pacific”. Published by Grant Richards, London a first edition 1915.

Thick octavo, 304 pages private library stamp at front and rear of Thomas Kinmore of Cork, Ireland. Nicely illustrated with 23 images from photographs. Pretty good condition.

An unusual book starting with “I run away to sea” but finds himself stranded in Brisbane and then off to the bush before leaving for the South Sea Islands. The usual chapter on cannibalism with much time spent in Samoa and Fiji, then Tahiti (and the usual chapter on morals) and the Marquesan Queens and back to Samoa before returning to Australia. Lost in the bush and on to the Gold Fields and Coolgardie. References to the Bounty and of course R.L.S. And quite a bit of violin playing – see his biography below.

Written in an interesting somewhat casual style but packed with observation if not sometimes a bit puffed up.

The author George Arnold Haynes Safroni-Middleton (1873-1950), also known as Count Safroni, was a British Composer, violinist, harpist, writer and astronomer. Born in Kent he studied violin with Pablo de Sarasate and later played with the orchestra at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney. He toured Australia and explored Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia (and also obviously the Pacific). He composed “Imperial Echoes” in 1913 which for many years was the theme of “Radio Newsreel” on the BBC. Quite an odd chap.

In Australian and (mainly) in the Pacific – entertaining

$80.00

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Incidents of a Collector’s Rambles in Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea – Sherman Denton 1889

Published by Lee and Shepard, Boston 1889. 272 pages with 13 plates and numerous text illustrations.

Original cloth covered binding. A pretty good copy.

Travels through New Zealand then to Australia (Victoria, Melbourne, Brisbane, trip through Queensland to Townsville) then to New Guinea, beginning at Port Moresby and moving inland.

A well illustrated and interesting account of the tour of a family devoted to natural history. Good New Guinea and Queensland content. Early note of the extremely unusual and primitive Mary River Lung Fish (The Jumping Fish).

Scarce Australian, Papua New Guinea item and a favourite of Voyager

$80.00

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The Life and Work of Sir William Bragg – Sir Kerr Grant Professor of Physics, Adelaide University

The John Murtagh Macrossan Memorial Lecture for 1950 published by the University of Queensland in 1952. A First edition in decorated paper covers. Scarce 46 pages with frontispiece. Gift inscription to South Australian legal mind and bibliophile Duncan-Hughes who was finishing his Masters at Trinity College Cambridge in 1909 when William Lawrence Bragg arrived to commence his fruitful time there.

Rare Bragg item delivered by distinguished physicist

$60.00

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Report on Australian Languages and Traditions (Parts I and II Complete) – Rev William Ridley MA – 1872/3

Queensland Branch of the Royal Geographical Society – Proceedings 1887 – Interesting Papuan Expedition, Queensland Mountains etc

A Journal of the Endeavour Voyager – James Magra

Sailor and Beachcomber – Safroni-Middleton – First Edition 1915

Incidents of a Collector’s Rambles in Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea – Sherman Denton 1889

The Life and Work of Sir William Bragg – Sir Kerr Grant Professor of Physics, Adelaide University

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