[ix] 



1939), he picked scraps of such then unknown genera as Clianthus, 

 Pittosporum, Diplolaena, Hannafordia and Dampiera. 



To 18th century botanists down to 1776 New Holland (Nova Hollan- 

 dia) was simply the name of a section of uninvestigated coast-line on 

 maps or an obscure South Sea island, seemingly of much less conse- 

 quence, for example, than little Amboina, and its extraordinary flora 

 remained virtually unknown until the return in 1771 of Joseph Banks 

 (1743—1820) and Daniel Solander (1736—1782) from Captain Cooks 

 first voyage. Dutch sailors had made known the existence of a long 

 barren coast-line stretching southward from Arnhem Land to Cape 

 Leeuwin and then eastward to the Great Australian Bight. They na- 

 turally surmised that this coast was backed to the east by a great land 

 mass, but of its extent and its flora, being deepsea men, they knew 

 nothing. Cook in the Endeavour reached it from the other direction 

 after circumnavigating New Zealand. On 17 and 18 April 1770 he saw 

 a southern skua ('Port Egmont Hen'), a bird regarded as a sure sign 

 of the nearness of land, and the land itself, which he named New South 

 Wales, came into sight on 19 April 1770. 



Not, however, until 29 April 1770 was Cook able to make a landing 

 in New South Wales. At the place chosen [g] Banks and Solander 

 gathered plants with such enthusiasm and success that, according to 

 the final version of Cook sJournal for 6 May 1770 (cf. Beaglehole, 1955; 

 ccix, 310), 'the great quantity of New Plants etc. Mr. Banks & Dr. So- 

 lander collected in this place occasioned my giveing it the name of 

 Botany Bay. It is situated in the Latitude of 34° 0' s, Longitude 208° 37' 

 West\ Later Banks recommended the establishment of a penal settle- 

 ment here. On 6 May 1770, 'having seen every thing this place afforded', 

 Cook sailed northward, landing next on 23 May at Bustard Bay [h] 

 on the Queensland coast, then on 29 and 30 May at Thirsty Sound [j], 

 on 8 June on Hinchinbrook Island [k]. Further north, off Cape Tribu- 

 lation, so named 'because here began all our troubles', the Endeavour 

 struck a coral reef, the Endeavour Reef, on 17 June, and sprang an 

 alarming leak. Fortunately, the pumps, manned in turn by everyone 

 aboard, including Cook and Banks, gained upon the water, the ship 

 floated off the reef and emergency repairs kept her afloat while the 

 ship's boats searched for a harbour where we could repair our defects 

 and put the ship into a proper trim'. On 18 June 1770 Cook beached 

 her at the mouth of the Endeavour River [1] and here they remained 

 until 3 August. Banks and Solander took full advantage of the oppor- 



