PREFACE. 
The rapidly-increasing importance to which the 
English Colonies in Australia have now arrived, 
rendering every subject connected with that ex- 
tensive continent of the greatest interest, whether 
in respect to its geography, or the extraordinary 
assemblage of its animal and vegetable produc- 
tions, has induced me to publish such parts of 
my Journal as may be useful to accompany the 
Atlas of the Charts of the Coast recently pub- 
lished by the Board of Admiralty. 
One of the results of this voyage has been the 
occupation of Port Cockburn, between Melville 
and Bathurst Islands on the North Coast, and the 
formation of an establishment there which cannot 
fail to be productive of the greatest benefit to 
our mercantile communications with the Eastern 
Archipelago, as well as to increase the influence 
and power of the mother country in the South 
