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Two Classic Tales of Australian Exploration: 1788 / Life and Adventures
Book by Nicol, John, Tench, Watkin
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Tim Flannery
134 books405 followersTim Flannery is one of Australia's leading thinkers and writers.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
An internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer and conservationist, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and many books. His books include the landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and in 2006 won the NSW Premiers Literary Prizes for Best Critical Writing and Book of the Year.
He received a Centenary of Federation Medal for his services to Australian science and in 2002 delivered the Australia Day address. In 2005 he was named Australian Humanist of the Year, and in 2007 honoured as Australian of the Year.
He spent a year teaching at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and the National Geographic Society's representative in Australasia. He serves on the board of WWF International (London and Gland) and on the sustainability advisory councils of Siemens (Munich) and Tata Power (Mumbai).
In 2007 he co-founded and was appointed Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council, a coalition of community, business, and political leaders who came together to confront climate change.
Tim Flannery is currently Professor of Science at Maquarie University, Sydney.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2011
I went to a talk last week called Must Read Histories. Three people talking about their favourite histories and one of them, Marcia Langton, recommended these two books. The next day I went to the local library and borrowed the talking book version.
This is such an interesting book. You have to remember that at the time Australia was about as far away from England as you could go without actually falling off the edge of the world – something that had only fairly recently been stitched up to stop people doing exactly that. As Robert Hughes says, being sent to the moon would have seemed less terrifying, given you can see the moon from England. Australia was insanely far away, a point made rather well when he says that they didn’t even know there had been a Revolution in France in the in-between times between mail deliveries. There is a lovely bit where a ship arrives without bringing either letters from home or even newspapers – and a crew that couldn’t even answer what seemed the most basic of questions. Interest tends to increase with the absence of any ability to satisfy it.
The reason Marcia liked this quite so well was that it gives a remarkably sympathetic, detailed and insightful account of the local Aboriginals. This was easily the best and most interesting part of the book. However, what is also interesting is his much fewer words on the convicts. It is the old story of the deserving and undeserving other. There is talk of Irish convicts who wanted to walk to China from Sydney – and much is made of this and he even says that although some of his best friends are Irish, clearly they are as thick as dog shit. Although, why someone unable to read and write might ‘know’ where China is in relation to Sydney, is a little beyond me. His compassion for the Aboriginals is certainly not always equalled by his compassion for the convicts.
All the same, this book is like reading dispatches from the lunar landings and all done by someone who is nice to spend time with and who has a great eye for both detail and a good story. The bit where the local natives ask for proof that the people talking to them are men (due to their shaven faces) and so a sailor is told to drop his pants is surely one of the great stories of Australian history.
This is such an interesting book. You have to remember that at the time Australia was about as far away from England as you could go without actually falling off the edge of the world – something that had only fairly recently been stitched up to stop people doing exactly that. As Robert Hughes says, being sent to the moon would have seemed less terrifying, given you can see the moon from England. Australia was insanely far away, a point made rather well when he says that they didn’t even know there had been a Revolution in France in the in-between times between mail deliveries. There is a lovely bit where a ship arrives without bringing either letters from home or even newspapers – and a crew that couldn’t even answer what seemed the most basic of questions. Interest tends to increase with the absence of any ability to satisfy it.
The reason Marcia liked this quite so well was that it gives a remarkably sympathetic, detailed and insightful account of the local Aboriginals. This was easily the best and most interesting part of the book. However, what is also interesting is his much fewer words on the convicts. It is the old story of the deserving and undeserving other. There is talk of Irish convicts who wanted to walk to China from Sydney – and much is made of this and he even says that although some of his best friends are Irish, clearly they are as thick as dog shit. Although, why someone unable to read and write might ‘know’ where China is in relation to Sydney, is a little beyond me. His compassion for the Aboriginals is certainly not always equalled by his compassion for the convicts.
All the same, this book is like reading dispatches from the lunar landings and all done by someone who is nice to spend time with and who has a great eye for both detail and a good story. The bit where the local natives ask for proof that the people talking to them are men (due to their shaven faces) and so a sailor is told to drop his pants is surely one of the great stories of Australian history.
May 30, 2025
This work is made up of two seperate publications by different authors written in their own times and each entire to itself. Both edited excellently retaining the voice of the original authors, byTim Flannery two and a half centuries later. I have just finished the first, ie '1788' by Watkins Tench and so have changed it's Goodreads label from Reading to Read so that I can respond it. It was an amazing read and it should be more available to, especially the young, students of early Australian history. It should be the starting point, from which all else, fabricated through to proven to be true or judged by First Nation readers to be true, should follow. Tench is not without deeper biases of his social class and origins but he also comes across as intelligent and open-minded in his observations of a culture he recognises as vastly different to his own. In 1788 he writes not only as a captain-lieutanant of the marine corps but also as 'amateur naturalist, ethnographer lawyer, soldier, agronomist and social commentator'. Beside its clarity and the sense you get of actually being there with the First Fleet in Port Jackson, the best thing about 1788 is the depth of Tench's humanity. I wish my first encounter of colonial Australian history had been as told by Tench. it would have saved years of confusion and saved a lot of time. 1788 is basically a report, in the voice of a calm, educated man reporting exactly what he sees; unafraid to go against the prejudices and unfairness he sees in his own people but also not glorifying nor exaggerating the qualities he finds in the new. An amazing piece of nonfiction: travel diary, adventure and on the spot history. Now to start the second - Life and Adventures 1776-1801 by John Nicol, Mariner.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews