Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) joined the Royal Navy at fifteen, later claiming to have been inspired by Robinson Crusoe. He served under William Bligh, and charted the Bass Strait in 1798. In 1801 he was commissioned to chart 'New Holland', and so became the first to circumnavigate the island he referred to as Australia. After being shipwrecked on the Barrier Reef and imprisoned for six years on Mauritius on suspicion of spying, he returned to England in 1810 and began work on A Voyage to Terra Australis. He died the day after his book and maps were published. This biography, published in 1914 to mark the centenary of his death, was the first comprehensive study of this central figure of Australian maritime exploration. The leading Australian historian Ernest Scott (1868-1939) based his account on material held in private collections in France as well as on documents deposited in Australian libraries.

Ernest Scott (1867-1939) emigrated to Australia in 1892, settling in Melbourne where he worked as a journalist. In 1913 he was appointed Professor of History at the University of Melbourne. This volume, first published in 1910, discusses the aims and outcome of the survey of the south Australian coast performed by Nicholas Baudin's French expedition between 1800 and 1804, and established Scott's reputation as a historian. Scott traces the path of Baudin's expedition along the then unexplored south coast of Australia, estimating the amount of original surveying performed by the expedition to address the accusation that the French expedition plagiarised British surveys of the same coastline. Scott also discusses the origins of the expedition to investigate possible political motivations behind the survey. This detailed and meticulously researched volume presents a valuable revised view of Baudin's expedition.

The publication in 1933 of the Australia volume of the Cambridge History of the British Empire was a landmark in historical interpretation of the nation and its place in the world. To coincide with the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, Cambridge University Press reissued this book in an unaltered edition. For this reissue Professor Geoffrey Bolton contributed a specially commissioned introduction assessing the importance, historical context and legacy of the volume.