Published in 1892, this two-volume biography chronicles the remarkable life and career of Sir George Grey (1812-98), the 11th premier of New Zealand. William Lee Rees (1836-1912), lawyer, politician and well-known supporter of Grey, co-wrote this work with his daughter Lily, and the books outline how Grey became arguably the most influential figure during the European settlement of New Zealand in the nineteenth century. The volumes proceed chronologically and are organised by the main events in Grey's life. Volume 2 covers Grey's second governorships of Cape Colony and New Zealand, his engagement in English politics and his return to New Zealand in 1870. It concludes with an assessment of Grey's personal characteristics, successes and failures. In addition to recounting the incidents, adventures and achievements of Grey's life, Rees also conveys Grey's principles and aspirations, giving the reader an insight into the character of this servant of the empire.

Arthur S. Thomson (1816-60) was a Scottish military surgeon and medical scientist who was posted to New Zealand in the late 1840s. During his eleven years in the country, settlement increased and British sovereignty over the colony was extended. Thomson felt that previous historical accounts of New Zealand all demonstrated a certain political, colonial or religious bias, and decided to write his own comprehensive history of the islands, which was published in 1859. Volume 1 begins with a focus on the geography and climate of New Zealand. Thomson then describes the physical appearance of the New Zealanders, their way of life, their culture, their property laws and the origin of their (now abandoned) cannibalism. Next he describes the history of discovery and settlement by Europeans, who brought 'true civilisation' to the islands. Thomson gives especial credit to the Christian missionaries for having introduced progress and enlightenment.

Arthur S. Thomson (1816-60) was a Scottish military surgeon and medical scientist who was posted to New Zealand in the late 1840s. During his eleven years in the country, settlement increased and British sovereignty over the colony was extended. Thomson felt that previous historical accounts of New Zealand all demonstrated a certain political, colonial or religious bias, and decided to write his own comprehensive history of the islands, which was published in 1859. In Volume 2, Thomson continues the story of European discovery and settlement. He justifies the progress of British colonisation by arguing that it brought civilisation to the native people, fully supporting the introduction of English (property) law and the introduction of Christianity. Thomson advocates that the Maoris be taught English, as this is the only way to give them hope that they can 'rise above the hewers of wood and drawers of water'.

The first attempt by Europeans to settle in the area that eventually became the state of Victoria, Australia, was led by Colonel David Collins in 1803. Melbourne was founded in 1835, and after the discovery of gold in 1851 became the financial centre of Australia. This authoritative two-volume history of the state's first century, published in 1904 by the banker Henry Gyles Turner (1831-1920), is based on parliamentary records and information from leading political figures with whom the author was personally acquainted. Volume 1 traces Victoria's development from its early settlement to its establishment as an independent colony and the discovery of gold. It explores the region's progress and the challenges it faced as the gold rush led to overpopulation, high living costs, and mining disputes. The book gives first-hand insights into a time of rapid political, social and economic change.

The first attempt by Europeans to settle in the area that eventually became the state of Victoria, Australia, was led by Colonel David Collins in 1803. Melbourne was founded in 1835, and after the discovery of gold in 1851 became the financial centre of Australia. This authoritative two-volume history of the state's first century, published in 1904 by the banker Henry Gyles Turner (1831-1920), is based on parliamentary records and information from leading political figures with whom the author was personally acquainted. Volume 2 continues Turner's discussion of the gold rush, and covers the management of the goldfields, the imprisonment of unlicensed miners, and the miners' revolts against taxes. The book sets events in the context of the region's changing political landscape, and documents the struggle to establish an efficient government. It ends with a thorough account of Victoria's integration into the Commonwealth of Australia.

J. S. Polack (1807-82) lived in New Zealand during 1831-7 and 1842-50. An enterprising businessman and land speculator, he traded in timber and flax, and in 1835 set up the first brewery in the country. He also learned the Maori language, and warned against the destructive effects on Maori society of unorganized European settlement, while arguing for the benefits of systematic colonization. This two-volume work, published in 1838, was the first of two successful books by Polack about his experiences in New Zealand and is still regarded as an important and impartial source about the period immediately preceding the Treaty of Waitangi. Volume 1 outlines the discovery of the islands, their climate, geology, topography and fauna. It contains vivid descriptions of the Maori and their customs (including an account of an energetic haka) and details about family life, social status, food, tapu prohibitions, dress, and tattooing.

J. S. Polack (1807-82) lived in New Zealand during 1831-7 and 1842-50. An enterprising businessman and land speculator, he traded in timber and flax, and in 1835 set up the first brewery in the country. He also learned the Maori language, and warned against the destructive effects on Maori society of unorganized European settlement, while arguing for the benefits of systematic colonization. This two-volume work, published in 1838, was the first of two successful books by Polack about his experiences in New Zealand and is still regarded as an important and impartial source about the period immediately preceding the Treaty of Waitangi. Volume 2 focuses on Maori material culture and craftsmanship, traditional beliefs and rituals, and warfare (including lurid reports of cannibalism), as well as the early interactions of Maori and Europeans through trade, missions and whaling.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862) was a colonial advocate and political theorist, who was influential in the early colonisation of New Zealand and South Australia. Wakefield read widely on contemporary economics and social questions, and his theory of colonisation helped shape the British Empire. He formed the New Zealand Association in 1837 to create a new colony in that country, finally emigrating himself in 1852. His son, the editor of this volume of letters, was appointed secretary of the first settler expedition to New Zealand in 1839, and was elected political representative for Canterbury in 1854. The letters in the volume, published in 1868, which span the period 1847-50, trace the history of the town of Canterbury from Wakefield senior's suggestion of church-led settlement in the 1840s to its foundation in 1850-1. A planned second volume was never published.

Charles Sturt (1795-1869) was a British soldier, sent to New South Wales in charge of convicts in 1826. In 1827 Governor Darling appointed him to lead the first of two expeditions into the interior, in search of pastoral land for settlement and a navigable river system. Sturt's two-volume account of his journeys, published in 1833, begins with a description of the colony. Volume 1 focuses on the expedition of 1828-9, when Sturt and a small party travelled on horseback down the Macquarie River until it turned into marshes. Skirting the unhealthy swamps, they eventually discovered and named the Darling River, but were forced to turn back due to drought and a lack of fresh water, as the Darling was salt. Sturt describes the topgraphy, vegetation and wildlife, as well as his encounters with groups of Aborigines concerned for the party's welfare despite their own harsh living conditions.

Charles Sturt (1795-1869) was a British soldier, sent to New South Wales in charge of convicts in 1826. In 1827 Governor Darling appointed him to lead the first of two expeditions into the interior, in search of pastoral land for settlement and a navigable river system. Sturt's two-volume account of his journeys was published in 1833. Volume 2 describes how in November 1829 Sturt left Sydney to trace the Murrumbidgee River, which led him to the Lachlan, and ultimately the Murray. The ship which was supposed to be waiting for the party on the south coast had left, and the explorers were forced to row 900 miles back up river on low rations, an experience which permanently damaged Sturt's health. Despite these hardships, Sturt made careful records of the topography and flora of the region, as well as his encounters with the local, occasionally hostile, Aboriginal tribes.

In 1822, an ambitious but bankrupt mariner named James Mudie arrived in Australia. With the support and patronage of the Colonial Office he was appointed justice of the peace and went on to acquire a reputation as one of the harshest and most brutal magistrates in New South Wales. Published in 1837, as a gesture of protest against Sir Richard Burke's relative leniency, Mudie's account of the 'social, moral and political condition' of the penal colony terrified British readers. Using dramatic imagery and anecdotes to support his argument, the author recommends a three-pronged attack on the 'depraved appetites and vicious courses' of convicts. Advocating strict discipline, the subjection of the will of the prisoner to that of the master, and 'religious impression', Mudie's treatise reveals not only the challenges facing nineteenth-century magistrates, but also the brutal treatment that awaited those whose punishment began with transportation to Australasia.

Having arrived with his parents from Ireland in New South Wales in 1840 as a 'bounty emigrant', the young Roderick Flanagan (1828-62) quickly developed a passionate interest in his adopted country. Following an apprenticeship with a city printer, the educated and astute Flanagan worked for a number of Australia's early newspapers, including Melbourne's Daily News and the Sydney Morning Herald, where he acquired his distinctive, journalistic approach to history. Published shortly after his early death in London in 1862, Flanagan's two-volume chronicle of New South Wales represents a lifetime of research, and demonstrates the author's balanced and unpartisan approach to politics. Opening with Cook's voyage of 1770, early expeditions inland, and initial encounters with aboriginal peoples, Volume 1 covers the first sixty-eight years of European immigration, and the various political, criminal and military skirmishes that shaped the new colony.

Having arrived with his parents from Ireland in New South Wales in 1840 as a 'bounty emigrant', the young Roderick Flanagan (1828-62) quickly developed a passionate interest in his adopted country. Following an apprenticeship with a city printer, the educated and astute Flanagan worked for a number of Australia's early newspapers, including Melbourne's Daily News and the Sydney Morning Herald, where he acquired his distinctive, journalistic approach to history. Published shortly after his early death in London in 1862, Flanagan's two-volume chronicle of New South Wales represents a lifetime of research, and demonstrates the author's balanced and unpartisan approach to politics. Picking up the narrative in 1838, Volume 2 covers the campaign for the discontinuation of criminal transportation, the origin of the Elected Council, and the political and social character of neighbouring New Zealand. This volume concludes with appendices on the economic, geographic and agricultural status of the colony.

James Bonwick (1817-1906) arrived in Tasmania, then Van Diemen's Land, in 1841, beginning an unstable and itinerant career as school-master, writer, and archivist. A zealous non-conformist and mystic, who was briefly in contact with Madame Blavatsky, Bonwick became interested in the plight of the Tasmanian aborigines after a visit to Flinders Island, to which the last of the nearly extinct population had been removed. Published in 1870, by which time Bonwick had become a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, this book is a sympathetic anthropological study of indigenous Tasmanian culture and society, based on colonial records, interviews with early settlers and Bonwick's own experiences. The companion volume to The Last of the Tasmanians, which discussed the reasons for the extinction and was cited by Darwin in The Descent of Man, it provides important source material, as well as insight into the morally difficult subject of nineteenth-century anthropology.

In this 1902 work, teacher, historian and archivist James Bonwick (1817-1906) recalls a long life's contribution to the fields of education and historical writing. More than sixty publications can be attributed to Bonwick, who was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1865. He traces his life from boyhood to the many years he spent in Australia, establishing, managing and inspecting schools. Bonwick stressed the need for observation and experimentation by the pupil rather than rote learning. He was also involved in the temperance movement, and was a sympathetic champion of the near-extinct Tasmanian aborigines. Upon returning to England in the early 1880s, Bonwick immersed himself in transcribing Australian source material, archived in London, that chronicled the British settlement in Australia. Many of his transcripts were subsequently used as the basis of works on the early history of Australia both by Bonwick himself and by others.

In 1832, aged just seventeen, the future colonial governor Edward John Eyre (1815-1901) set sail from London for Australia. The farming life that awaited him laid the foundations of an enduring interest in the topography, anthropology and zoology of his adopted homeland. Following an initial expedition in 1839, in 1840 Eyre set out on his pioneering trek from Adelaide to Western Australia. The year-long adventure financially ruined the explorer, but won him the coveted gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering Lake Torrens. Published in 1845, this two-volume account of the expedition made Eyre a household name in Britain and fuelled popular interest in the former penal colony. Including eleven engravings, Volume 1 opens with the origins of the expedition, but quickly leads readers into the darkest moments experienced en route, including conflicts within the party, desperate searches for water, and the murder of an overseer.

In 1832, aged just seventeen, the future colonial governor Edward John Eyre (1815-1901) set sail from London for Australia. The farming life that awaited him laid the foundations of an enduring interest in the topography, anthropology and zoology of his adopted homeland. Following an initial expedition in 1839, in 1840 Eyre set out on his pioneering trek from Adelaide to Western Australia. The year-long adventure financially ruined the explorer, but won him the coveted gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering Lake Torrens. Published in 1845, this two-volume account of the expedition made Eyre a household name in Britain and fuelled popular interest in the former penal colony. Volume 2 leads readers through various dramatic episodes including the plundering of the camp, a 'night of horrors', forced marches, and hunting kangaroos. It concludes with a fascinating account of the celebratory aborigine reception that awaited the survivors.

James Tuckey (1776-1816) was a naval officer who was appointed first lieutenant on H.M.S. Calcutta. In 1802 the ship was given orders to sail to New South Wales, Australia, to survey the harbour at Port Phillip, and to establish a colony. The Calcutta departed from Portsmouth in April 1803 and arrived in New South Wales in October. After Tuckey returned from the assignment, he published this account in 1805. He begins the work by explaining the motives behind establishing the colony - it was to be used for convicts, some of whom he was transporting on the ship. The first four chapters discuss the journey but the final chapter focuses on the attempts to establish a colony and encounters with the indigenous population, and gives a survey of the coastline. Port Phillip became the city Melbourne, and this work is a valuable source about its early years of settlement.

George French Angas (1822-86) gave up a career in business to become an artist, and his interest in natural history and ethnology is apparent throughout his work. In the early 1840s he travelled to Australia and New Zealand. His paintings from this period were later exhibited and formed the basis of two important large-format books of lithographs that appeared in 1849, having been announced in this two-volume 1847 account of his travels. Volume 1 documents Angas' expeditions in South Australia, a colony his father helped to found. Angas accompanied William Giles into the Murray basin and George Grey along the south-east coast, and his observations include detailed descriptions of the way of life of the Aboriginal tribes there. The book continues with Angas' voyage to Wellington, with views of Taranaki and the Kaikouras, his first impressions of the Maori (including a haka), and his onward journey to Auckland.

George French Angas (1822-86) gave up a career in business to become an artist, and his interest in natural history and ethnology is apparent throughout his work. In the early 1840s he travelled to Australia and New Zealand. His paintings from this period were later exhibited and formed the basis of two important large-format books of lithographs that appeared in 1849, having been announced in this two-volume 1847 account of his travels. Volume 2 describes Angas' journey of nearly 800 miles on foot from Auckland into the volcanic interior of North Island, and the spectacular landscapes he saw there. He recounts how he 'invariably experienced hospitality and protection' among the Maori, and documents their customs, both ancient and Christianized. The book ends with Angas' impressions of New South Wales, an account of the customs of the Aboriginal tribes there, and his return to England via Cape Horn and Brazil.

Published in 1847, this is a fascinating account by the Prussian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt of his 3,000-mile expedition from north to south across Australia, from 1844 to 1846. One of the most authoritative early recorders of Australia's environment, Leichhardt was also the best trained naturalist to explore Australia during this time. The expedition departed on 1 October 1844 from Jimbour, the farthest outpost of settlement on the Queensland Darling Downs. Leichhhardt describes in detail the difficulties his party encountered from the very start, the extreme weather conditions they battled, the kindness of the people they met and his close observations of the habits of the aborigines. He also presents detailed analysis of his findings of natural phenomena. After travelling nearly 3,000 miles, Leichhardt arrived in Sydney on 25 March 1846 to a hero's welcome. Engaging and historically revealing, the volume will capture the imagination of the modern reader.

John Forrest (1847-1918), was an Australian surveyor and explorer. At twenty-two, he led an expedition to determine the fate of Ludwig Leichardt, who had earlier disappeared in the western desert. The following year he surveyed the coastal route from Perth to Adelaide, establishing the possibility of a telegraph line. In 1874, he crossed the central western desert, a two-thousand mile journey which confirmed his heroic reputation. He received the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society in London and was appointed Deputy Surveyor-General. His account of these expeditions, published in 1875, is based on his diaries, with extracts from official letters and the newspapers that covered the events. Forrest became Premier of Western Australia, held several positions under the subsequent federal government, and was the first native-born Australian to be recommended for a barony. This book thus illuminates the political history of Australia and that of its geographical exploration.

Port Mackay is a district of Queensland, Australia, best known for its production of cane sugar. It was first settled in the 1860s, when John Mackay (1839-1914) successfully completed a mission to claim farmland and introduce agriculture there. First published in 1908, this study by the businessman and keen amateur anthropologist Henry Ling Roth (1855-1925) explores the district's history, tracing its development from an uncharted territory barely noticed by early European explorers to a burgeoning community that profited from its ideal conditions for cultivation. Drawing on extensive notes from his visits to the region over thirty years, as well as some fascinating anecdotal accounts from settlers, Roth explores the achievements of Port Mackay's early colonists in agriculture, industry and sea trading. The book contains maps and photographs, and includes a short account of the local Aboriginal population, and substantial notes on natural history and sporting pursuits.

Mrs Charles (Ellen) Clacy (1830-1901) was a clergyman's daughter who, in 1852, travelled to the Australian goldfields. Published in 1853, on her return to England, this work, the first edition of which sold out almost immediately, is essentially a guide for prospective emigrants. It includes, within the lively narrative, practical advice on the cost of living, the labour market, gold-digging regulations, and marriage prospects. Mrs Clacy published several subsequent books, but her life remains obscure. Research suggests an illegitimate pregnancy or an absconding husband, unmentioned in the upbeat and respectable narrative, but possibly echoed by the highly coloured 'tale' of an anonymous emigrant woman, whose lover (twice) leaves her pregnant at the altar to go to the goldfields, with tragic consequences. However this relates to Mrs Clacy's actual circumstances, her writing vividly depicts the mixture of opportunity and hazard in nineteenth-century Australia, illuminating the country's early social history.

The British politician and lawyer Sir John Eldon Gorst (1835-1916) arrived in New Zealand in 1860, shortly after the outbreak of the Taranaki Wars (from 1860 onwards), with idealistic intentions of working with Bishop Selwyn and the Maori. He took on various governmental roles that required contact with the Maori, including those of school inspector, magistrate and, later, Civil Commissioner for the Waikato region, whose powerful chiefs had not signed the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. In 1864 he published this book analysing the social and economic situation in New Zealand, the rapid deterioration of relations between Maori and Europeans (which he ascribes largely to errors and neglect on the part of the British administration) and Maori demands for self-government. He describes, often as an eye-witness, the complex political wrangling that took place, and sets out his own views about the past and future relations between the two ethnic groups.