Queensland

Exchange of Letters between Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and the Maharaja of Gondal on the former’s appointment as the Governor of Bombay – 1923. Subsequently Wilson to become Governor of Queensland

An official exchange along with a corrected draft from the Maharaja so clearly from the files of his office.

Military man and parliamentarian Leslie Orme Wilson (1876- 1955) was appointed Governor of Bombay (1923-1926). His formal advice to His Highness Sir Bhagwatsinhji Sagramji – Thakor Saheb of Gondal ((1865-1944) was sent dated 13 December 1923 on the rather striking elaborately bordered paper of the day and regime. It is framed with a “Friendly disposition”.

The delightful response was not made until 5th February the following year and I have no doubt there may have been an underlying message despite the responses carefully crafted words “great pleasure to receive the assurance of the friendly disposition”. We also like the fact that the Maharaja’s similarly elaborate paper has retained far more gold over the years than his British counterpart.

There relationship did in indeed prove friendly and Wilson was “sent on” to Brisbane to become it’s longest serving Governor from 1932 through the war years to 1946. He was the head honcho in the Queensland masons and did a lot of tress planting including sone of the nice ones down around the beginning of Coronation drive – have they survived the continuous development?

An unusual and friendly piece of history with a Queensland connection

$80.00

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Robert O’Hara Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition – Andrew Jackson 1860

Scarce first edition of this essential Burke and Wills book published by Smith and Elder in 1862.

Octavo, xxi, 229 pages with woodcut portrait of Burke and folding map, extensive Publishers Catalogue at the rear. Original green cloth covered binding, some internal foxing particularly the map and adjacent pages as usual. Very good original embossed green cloth covered binding, gilt title to spine bright and fresh. Unusual for a usually distressed book.

Andrew Jackson may have known Burke personally, he was certainly an acquaintance of Burke’s father, they were officers in the same Regiment. The first chapter give an interesting account of the family military history and background on Robert O’Hara Burke.

Written from papers, journals, letters, reports, interviews etc associated with the expedition. Nicely written carefully compiled.

An important “companion work” to the Bentley published book based on Wills’s journal and letters.

Scarce Burke and Wills contemporary reference

$690.00

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Medal in Celebration of the Discovery of the Johnstone River, Queensland in 1873.

Produced in 1973 the celebrate the 100 year anniversary of George Elphinstone Dalrymple’s Discovery.

Cast in coppered bronze by K G Luke. 50 mm in diameter, weighing 48 gm, very good condition.

Nice design of the North and South Johnson combining and meandering down to the Pacific Ocean through heavily wooded hilly terrain. A very clear horizon, and in the sky above the explorers full name and commemorative dates the full commemorative details in a border around the edge. On the reverse a Floral and scroll design, presumably to take the engraved name of any recipient – here still blank.

The designer is associated with Sir Kenneth George Lake (1896-1971) who had a very successful business making all things requiring metal design … he was also an important identity in sports administration in Australian particularly the AFL.

George Elphinstone Dalrymple was a legendary explorer, pioneer and pastoralist in northern Queensland. See Robert Logan Jack’s Northmost Australia for a good account of his efforts. He named the Johnstone River in 1873 in honour of Robert Johnstone of the Native Police who had carried out his handy work in the region. Unusually, the river had already been named by Captain Moresby a year or two earlier … his name the Gladys did not stick, thankfully. The Johnstone is a spectacular part of Australia .. the rivers are subject to exceedingly high rainfall and make for the very best of white water rafting. The confluence of the North and South is about five kms west of the town of Innisafail. If you go there … watch out for salty crocodiles.

Very good uncirculated condition, strong relief.

Celebrating Northern Queensland Exploration

$80.00

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The Voyage of HMS Galatea – Visit to Australia – Prince Alfred – 1867

Medal commemorating the Australian visit of the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred, to Australia.

Created and cast by Thomas Stokes of Melbourne. There are two slightly different forms, with differing decorative borders.

On the obverse the Duke’s bust in naval dress uniform with Ribbon and Star of the Garter. Legend HRH Duke of Edinburgh. Surrounded by an ornamental border. Reverse with a starboard broadside view of the “Galatea” under steam and sail, the top gallant sails in the act of being taken in. Legend … to Commemorate the Visit of HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh KG to Australia – HMS Galatea 1867.

See the Greenwich National Maritime museum for an example – reference MEC1362.

47mm in diameter, 40 gm white metal. Holed for a loop as usual, a couple of scratches, negligible edge bumps, a pretty good example.

HMS Galatea circumnavigated the World and spent six months in Australia. During his stay the Prince was subject to an assassination attempt by an Irishman – he was shot but the bullet actually glanced off his ribs and he survived.

Historical Maritime Medal – HMS Galatea in Australia 1867.

$125.00

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Northmost Australia – Logan Jack 2 Volumes First Australian Edition – 1922

… Three Centuries of Exploration, Discovery, and adventure in and around the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. A first edition the Australian edition published by George Robertson, Melbourne in 1922. Two volumes with all 17 separate folding maps.

Robert Logan Jack was the senior Government Geologist for Queensland for 20 years. He replaced Richard Daintree who was the first to hold that position. The best work of its type by far and with a number of unique aspects. Completed in Logan Jack’s final year as he passed away November 1921.

Large, royal octavo, very good condition, nice clean covers, some foxing to page edges and near the ends as usual due to the thick spongy paper. Maps in great condition.

Volume 1 commences with early exploration – Maghelen, Quiros and Torres and the Duyfken at Cape York followed by the Pera and Aernemdealt. Tasman arrives in 1644 and then pre-Cook the voyages of the Buijs and Rijder in 1756 with Van Asschens and Gonzal. And then we have the Endeavour and Cook’s discovery from the South and East and soon after in 1789 Bligh in the Bounty launch. Flinders with the Investigator and the after “Wreck Reef” the Cumberland and captivity. Philip Parker King in the Mermaid fills the gaps in 1819 and then in the Bathurst a year later. The wreck of the Charles Eaton in 1834. Wickham and Stokes in 1839 to the Normanton and Albert Rivers and Burketown. Blackwood and Yule and the “Fly” and their mark on the Straits.

Then Logan Jack takes us to the interior and much on the great Leichhardt and Kennedy and that other fateful expedition. Back to the coast and Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake. And then Burke and Wills up the centre and the searching parties … Landsbourough, Walker and McKinley. Closing with good content on the Jardine Brothers up the Cape, the special efforts of first geologist Daintree and then Captain John Moresby (jnr) into the Torres Straits.

Whilst volume I contains hard to find narrative such as the Jardines and Daintree Volume II is a masterclass. After opening comments on Aboriginal and Polynesian labour we commence our explorations with the elusive William Hann and the Palmer River followed by Mulligan and 150 pages of Logan Jack’s own extensive explorations. Ending with explorations gems with Donald Laing, Embley, William Baird, John Dickie, William Lakeland and William Bowden.

We have gone on a bit but fell justified in attempting to describe the effort put into this book and the scarcity of the accounts. The whole wonderfully illustrated by images of the explorers often from family sources and at the rear separate indexes by persons, localities and subjects.

The Further North you go the better it gets in these Volumes.

SO SORRY SOLD

$590.00

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Shipwreck Archaeology in Australia – Michael Nash

A fine copy of Michael Nash’s all embracing Australian shipwreck book.

Published by the University of Western Australia Press in 2007. Squarish large octavo, 244 pages, very nicely illustrated throughout, end paper illustration of the dreadful goings on at the Batavia camp.

Pulled together by Nash with contributions from a number of other experts in the field, or the water really.

The fifteen wrecks dealt with in detail are presented chronologically starting with the Batavia (1629) .. then a leap to Hunter’s Sirius (1790) .. the Pandora (1791) all the way to the Tasman (1883). We say fifteen but the last is a place for wrecks Garden Island (1906-1945). Notes, glossary etc finish what is a really good reference or stand alone work.

The other dimension with this book is the back history of many of wrecks – First Fleet; Bounty Related; Slavers; Walers etc and for some another aspect such as Experimental Reconstruction (Zanoni 1867); Timber Shipbuilding techniques (Water Witch 1842).

Australian Wrecks – the way in to the subject – no better presentation.

$50.00

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Exchange of Letters between Sir Leslie Orme Wilson and the Maharaja of Gondal on the former’s appointment as the Governor of Bombay – 1923. Subsequently Wilson to become Governor of Queensland

Robert O’Hara Burke and the Australian Exploring Expedition – Andrew Jackson 1860

Medal in Celebration of the Discovery of the Johnstone River, Queensland in 1873.

The Voyage of HMS Galatea – Visit to Australia – Prince Alfred – 1867

Northmost Australia – Logan Jack 2 Volumes First Australian Edition – 1922

Shipwreck Archaeology in Australia – Michael Nash

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