ERNEST FAVENC,

Explorer, and Author of The History of Australian Exploration, The
Geographical Development of Australia, Tales of the Austral Tropics, The
Secret of the Australian Desert, etc., and Voices of the Desert (Poems).



1908.



AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

In presenting to the public this history of those makers of Australasia
whose work consisted in the exploration of the surface of the continent
of Australia, I have much pleasure in drawing the reader's attention to
the portraits which illustrate the text. It is, I venture to say, the
most complete collection of portraits of the explorers that has yet been
published in one volume. Some of them of course must needs be
conventional; but many of them, such as the portrait of Oxley when a
young man, and of A.C. Gregory, have never been given publicity before;
and in many cases I have selected early portraits, whenever I had the
opportunity, in preference to the oft published portrait of the same
subject when advanced in years.

There are many who assisted me in the collection of these portraits. To
Mr. F. Bladen, of the Public Library, Sydney; Mr. Malcolm Fraser, of
Perth, Western Australia; Mr. Thomas Gill, of Adelaide; Sir John Forrest;
The Reverend J. Milne Curran; Mr. Archibald Meston; and many others my