XXX. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



Cunningham then started on six botanically more or less 

 important coastal voyages, which came to an end shortly 

 after the event we celebrate to-night, although most of his 

 botanical and exploratory work was still in the future. His 

 Commander was Lieut, (afterwards Admiral) P. P. King, 

 r.n., who attained considerable botanical knowledge. The 

 first voyage was via Bass's Strait all round the coast to 

 Timor, stopping at a number or places, and home again via 

 Bass's Strait. The second was to Tasmania, when Mac- 

 quarie Harbour was visited. The third voyage started in 

 May 1819, and commenced a running survey of the east 

 coast. Port Macquarie and the Hastings were made in 

 company with the "Lady Nelson," Colonial Brig, and 

 assisted by Lieut. Oxley, R.N., the Surveyor General of the 

 colony (with whom Cunningham had been to Bathurst and 

 further west in 1817). The "Lady Nelson " then returned 

 with Oxley to Port Jackson, while King in the "Mermaid, " 

 with Cunningham aboard, went to north-western Australia, 

 and returned to Port Jackson from Timor. The fourth 

 voyage started in June, 1820. Port Jackson was left for 

 Queensland and the Gulf of Carpentaria, and in December, 

 1820, Cunningham returned to Port Jackson, having circum- 

 navigated the continent. The fifth voyage was taken in 

 H. M. Storeship " Dromedary," re-christened the " Bat- 

 hurst," the "Mermaid" having been condemned as unsea- 

 worthy. She left Port Jackson on 26th May, 1821, 

 circumnavigated Australia, and returned to Port Jackson, 

 which was reached on 25th April, 1822. 



His original journal, full of descriptions of plants and 

 other botanical observations and topographical memoranda, 

 is in the Mitchell Library (presented to the Public Library 

 by Kew about 1890). 



Charles Fraser, the first Superintendent of the Botanic 

 Gardens, accompanied Cunningham on some of the inland 

 excursions, and generally assisted him. He was a useful 



