Travel Tales 
of a PI ant Coll ector 
E. H. WILSON 
Assistant Director of the Arnold Arboretum 
Author of “ Romance of Our Trees,” “Aristocrats of the Garden,” "A Naturalist in Western China,” 
and other works 
III. EASTERN AUSTRALIA 
A Land Where Eucalypts Grow Three Hundred Feet Tall and Where 
the Acacias of Our Greenhouses Are Counted Outdoors by the Score 
Editors’ Note: By his unparalleled contribution to Occidental gardens of more than 2,000 new trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants brought back from a fourteen- 
year search in the Far East, Mr. IVilson has won the permanent gratitude of gardeners everywhere. Many of his introductions are already established in popular favor 
and nearly 200 have received the authoritative stamp of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Merit. 
The exclusive privilege of publishing these accounts of “Chinese IVilson’s” recent plant explorations through Africa, Asia, and Australia, has been accorded The 
Garden Magazine 
f TABLET fixed on a rock at Botany Bay in 1821, re¬ 
cords the discovery of eastern Australia in the following 
words: “A. D. MDCCLXX. Under the auspices of 
British science, these shores were discovered by James 
Cook and Joseph Banks, the Columbus and Maecenas of their 
time.” The northern shores of Australia appear to have been 
first discovered by a Portuguese, Manoel Heredia (or Eredia) 
in 1601. In 1605, the Dutch yacht Duyfhen sailed down the 
Gulf of Carpentaria as far as Cape Keer Weer (Turn again) but 
thought the land was part of New Guinea. A Spaniard, Luis de 
Torres, in 1606, discovered the neck of the water which separates 
the extreme northern tip of Australia from New Guinea and now 
called Torres Strait. The famous Dutch navigator, Abel Tas¬ 
man, in 1642 discovered what is now known as Tasmania and, 
unaware that it was an island named it Van Dieman’s Land, after 
the Governor of Batavia under whose command the exploration 
work was done. But no one appears to have seen the eastern 
shores of the austral continent until the coming of Captain Cook 
in 1770. The particular object of Cook’s first voyage, as is well- 
known, was to observe the transit of the planet Venus, but why 
Tahiti in the Society Islands was selected for the place and the 
subsequent events which led to momentous results are worth 
recording here. 
In February, 1768, the Council of the Royal Societv addressed 
a memorial to King George III, the first par¬ 
agraph of which reads:" . . That the 
passage of the Planet Venus over the disc 
of the sun which will happen on the 3rd of 
June, in the year 1769, is a phenomenon that 
must, if the same be accurately observed in 
proper places, contribute greatly to the im¬ 
provement of astronomy on which naviga¬ 
tion so much depends.” Later on it states: 
. . The like appearance will not happen 
for more than one hundred years.” The 
Royal Society indicated as suitable any 
place, “not exceeding 30 degrees of southern 
latitude, and between the 140th and 180th 
degrees of longitude west from Greenwich.” 
It is on record that California was thought 
of as an observing station. Early in 1768 
the British Ambassador at Madrid applied 
to the Court of Spain for the “ grant of a 
passport to a ship designed for California, 
to observe the Transit of Venus.” This 
was promised with the proviso that the 
astronomer should be a member of the Ro¬ 
man Catholic Church. An Italian gentle¬ 
man was consequently engaged for the 
undertaking, but the passport when demanded was refused by 
the Spanish Ministry who alleged that it was repugnant to the 
policy of government to admit foreigners into their American 
ports unless driven there by necessity, and especially those who 
by their profession would be fitted to make such observations 
as might facilitate the approaches and descents of their enemies 
at any future war. 
It is curious how affairs work out. I have shown in my first 
article (Garden Magazine January, 1923) how persecution by 
the Inquisition led indirectly to the formation of the Dutch East 
India Company, and thus again, fortuitously, to the discovery 
of western Australia. Now this refusal of the Spanish Ministry 
to grant a passport for a ship to visit California also resulted in¬ 
directly, of course, in the discovery of eastern Australia. The 
British Government acquired a vessel of 368 tons, named her 
the Endeavour and placed Captain James Cook in command. 
Tahiti was selected as the place for observation and the vessel 
sailed from Plymouth on August 25, 1768. Mr. Charles Green 
was the astronomer appointed; and, at his own expense, Joseph 
Banks, his assistant Dr. Carl Solander, and their attendants 
(eight in number) with a full equipment, accompanied Captain 
Cook. The orders of the Lords of the Admiralty were that after 
the observations on the Transit of Venus were finished the 
Endeavour, was to “ proceed under the direction of Mr. Banks on 
further discoveries of the great Southern 
Continent.” 
The voyage was made by rounding Cape 
Horn and Tahiti was reached on April 13, 
1769. The Transit of Venus was success¬ 
fully observed on the fated 3rd of June under 
perfect atmospheric conditions and on July 
13th the Endeavour sailed for New Zealand, 
arriving there on October 8th. Then began 
the circumnavigation of New Zealand, which 
was accomplished by February 26, 1770. 
Casting round for “new worlds to conquer” 
it was decided to “ stand immediately to the 
westward, fall in with the coast of New Hol¬ 
land as soon as possible and then sail to the 
northward.” This resulted in the discovery 
of New South Wales and “another continent 
was added to the world.” 
The Endeavour sailed from Admiralty 
Bay (Cape Farewell) on March 31st; the 
Australian coast was sighted on April 19th; 
and a landing made on April 28th, the place 
being named Botany Bay from the wealth of 
new and strange plants found there. After 
a week’s stay the voyage was continued 
SIR JOSEPH BANKS (1740-1820) 
Co-discoverer with Capt. Cook 
of eastern Australia in 1770 
35 
