The Queensland Naturalist. 
Nov., 1924 
108 
New Guinea is of interest to ornithologists, as it contains 
the first published figure of the Laughing Jackass or 
Kookaburra. 
The years 1769 to 1779 are noteworthy as being the 
years of Captain Cookes three voyages to the South Seas. 
In his first voyage Captain Cook was accompanied by 
Mr. Banks, afterwards Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent 
president of the Royal Society, and a wealthy patron of 
science, who took with him Dr. Solander, a distinguished 
naturalist, two draughtsmen, and a staff of servants to 
assist in collecting. Very full collections and a large 
number of drawings were made, but for some reason not 
yet definitely known the accounts of these collections and 
the accompanying plates were never published during 
Banks’s lifetime. On the second voyage Cook was accom- 
panied by the elder Forster, a well-known naturalist, 
and on the third voyage Surgeon W. Anderson acted in 
this capacity. 
After the formation of the settlement at l*ort 
Jackson in 1788, specimens of Australian birds and ani- 
mals were sent to England by almost every returning 
boat. The most enthusiastic collector was John "White, 
surgeon of the colony, whose journal of his voyage to 
New South Wales was published in 1790. Nearly half the 
book consists of appendices on the flora and fauna with 
many illustrations and descriptions by Dr. George Shaw, 
of tiie British Museum, and other English naturalists. 
The previous year a book conotaining various official 
papers and miscellaneous documents had been published 
in London under the title of The Voyage of Governor 
Phillip to Botany Bay. This work contains numerous 
pictures of Australian birds and animals, with brief 
descriptions, mostly by Dr. John Latham, the famous 
ornithologist. 
The lecture was illustrated by slides prepared from 
the illustrations in the books mentioned, also from 
Latham’s General Synopsis of Birds, and Shaw and 
Nodder’s Naturalists’ Miscellany, works which were 
appearing at the time of the Port Jackson settlement. 
Amongst the species figured prior to 1792 were the 
following well-knoAvn creatures : — Kangaroo, (Common 
Opossum, Ringtail Opossum, Native (’at, Dingo, and 
Porcui)ine Anteater, White (’ockatoo. Black Cockatoo, 
Kookaburra. Sacred Kingfisher, Blue Wren, Bronzewing 
pigeon. White-fronted Heron, Black Swan, and Emu; 
Goanna, Blue-tongued Lizard, and Port Jackson Shark. 
