This book takes a new look at the famous and forgotten names of Australian exploration - men such as Vlamingh, Tasman, Dampier, Cook, Flinders, Sturt, Mitchell, Eyre and Stuart. It traces how Australia gradually came to be known to the outside world from the arrival of the Aboriginals to the crossing of the central deserts.
Geoffrey Badger pays particular attention to the challenges of navigation, diet and geography to reveal how the explorers conquered uncharted oceans and deserts - or how the wilderness came to defeat them. Generously illustrated and packed with stories of human courage, ambition and folly, this book tells perhaps the greatest Australian story of all.
