Notes of a Voyage from New South Wales to the North Coast of Australia

A presentation copy from the editor, James R. Napier, to A.G. MacDonald (dated 7 August 1876). Francis Napier joined the South Australian Government expedition under Captain Cadell. They were searching for suitable sites for settlement on the north coast of the state (now the Northern Territory).

The expedition departed from Newcastle, New South Wales calling at Brisbane and travelling on to Cape York Peninsula. From Cape York it crossed the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Liverpool River, surveying that river and exploring the coast for about one hundred miles east and west of it. The expedition then returned to Burke Town on the Albert River, at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and passing through Cadell Strait, and along the west coast of the Gulf, remaining some time at Maria Island... It discovered the entrance to the Roper River, from the Roper it returned to the Liverpool river, thence sailing westwards to Mount Norris Bay, Adam's Bay, and Victoria River, in search of fuel, food and water.

The Notes outline the discoveries of the voyage including the entrance to the Roper River. These notes - which provide the only public account of the expedition - were compiled from Napier's journal by his family and privately printed in Glasgow following his death in 1875.

A beautiful copy of a very rare book.