P U P L I S H E D P RIC E, S I X P E N C E .

TH E CH ILD ’S

HISTORY OF AUSTRALIABy a . I. M.

F IR ST PA R T.

, , ^ S y d n e y

B r o o k s a n d C o ., L i m i t e d ,

17 CaSTEEREAGH STREET.

1903.

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TH E CHILD'S

HISTORY OF AUSTRALIABy a . I. M.

F IR ST P A R T

S y d n e y ;

W i l l i a m B r o o k s a n d C o , L i m i t e d ,

17 C a s t l e r e a o h S t r e e t .

inoi.

•fJ J O N UNIV. UftRAM

Parents and teachers using this little book, are advised, when practicable, to use a large atlas or wall map to point out the places named.

The little maps in the book to be used as much as possible. The experienced teacher using a blackboard, of course, needs no advice ; but we hope tha t to many families in the far off bush the forthcoming series may be of service.

“ The many not the few.”

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THE CHILD’S HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.

B y a . I. M.

CHAPTER I.

Australia, the country in which we live, is often called “ a new country.”

England is called the Old, or Mother Country.

Now, I will tell you why this is :

Long ago, people on the other side of tlie world, had strange ideas of this part, where we live.

Some thought there was nothing but water — the big ocean to the south of the East Indies.

Others thought it was quite likely there was a big country here, but tha t it was too far off to trouble about.

There were some funny old charts and maps.

N ot a bit like the ones we have now.

A ny of you who live near or have been to the coast on a visit and looked on the grand, blue sea, have seen the Pacific Ocean.

Pacific means calm or peaceful. This ocean did not seem as rough, to those who first named it, as the other seas near the old, or first well-known part of the world.

b THE CHILD S HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.

Now I must tell you about some of the brave men who first came to this part of the world.

The first of whom I must tell was a brave man of Spain.

This man’s name was De Quiros. H e had been for one trip first, which made him think th a t there was a great south land to be found if folks would only try to send a ship to search.

De Quiros would not rest till something was done. H e asked King Philip of Spain many times to help him with ships and money to go to look for it, bu t De Quiros had to wait for many years.

A t last, the K ing got tired of being asked many times and gave in thus far.

H e said that, though he could not give any money himself to send a ship, he would order the Governor of P eru to lit out some ships.

De Quiros took the King of Spain’s orders to Peru, and very soon two ships were got. 1605.

As well as two big ships, there was a small one called the “ Zabra.”

The large vessels were called the Capitana ” and the Alniirante.”

De Quiros anchored in a bay of a large island, which he named Terra Australis del Esperitu Santo — which means Southern Land of the Holy Spirit.

This place is in the New Hebrides group.

THE c h i l d ' s h i s t o r y OE AUSTRALIA. 7

Torres, wlio had the command of one of the ships, continued the voyage, passed through tlie strait which bears his name, then made tlie first maps of New Guinea.

Torres knew that he had found an island, but De Quiros found it very large and thought it to be a continent.

De Quiros was a very fine man and a great explorer. The Spaniards consider him only second to Columbus.

I must tell you, if you do not know, that Columbus discovered America. Try and remember this

De Quiros had a hard time ; he wanted hel]i and could not get it.

A bout fifty letters were written, asking more help from those in power in Spain.

Poor De Quiros was kept waiting for verylong.

H e died in Panama in 1609.

H e had dreadful trials.

Once his sailors rose against him, and sailed off with one of the three ships to Mexico.

I t was very sad, poor De Quiros dying after all his trouble before he could see any reward of his labours.

8 THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

A D utch vessel called the ‘‘ Leewin,” which means Lioness, sailed from Cape Leewin to King George’s Sound in 1602.

A s you find these places on the map ofAustralia you will think with me, my child, howstrange it is th a t the name of this captain has been lost.

In 1605, about the same time as De Quiros came to this part of the world, the Dutch ship

Duyfhen ” or ‘‘ D o v e ” sailed from Java.

This vessel was sent to explore the coast of New Guinea.

We do not know the name of the captain of the “ Dove,” but we know tha t he sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria to a point called Cape “ Keerweer” (or Turnagain). 1605.

Some of the crew were killed by blacks.

They went away without knowing tha t they had found a great island continent.

These were some of the first, if not the very first, Europeans to come here.

They left no letters nor papers.

In 1616, Dirk H artog came to Australia.

D irk H artog Island, in Shark Bay, is named after him.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 9

We know very little of H artog or his travels. One of our historians (Mr. George Collingridge) tried hard to get full accounts, but without success.

I t has been found out, though, tha t French travellers on a boat called the “ Naturaliste ” found a plate, in 1802, recording a D utch discovery made in 1616, on the W est coast of Australia.

Tliey took a copy of the writing, and then fixed the plate upon a new post in the same place.

I t was made of metal—some say tin and some say lead.

In 1623, Jan Carstens sailed to explore the Coasts found by the Duyfhen ” or Dove.”

The New Guinea blacks killed Carstens and many of his men ; but his ship kept on her way under the command of those who were left.F i n d o n t h e m a r —

England, Australia, East Indies, Pacific Ocean,Spain, Peru, New Hebrides, Torres Straits,New Guinea, America, Mexico, Cape Leewin,King George s Sound, Java, Gulf of Carpen-taria. Cape “ Keerweer ” (or Turnagain), DirkH artog Island, Shark Bay.Peter Nuyts entered the Australian Bight in

the year 1627.W hat a long time ago th a t must seem to a

little boy or g i r l ; but when you are grown up, and

1 0 THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

read about older countries and the histories of Greece and Rome, you will know that, though it is nearly three hundred years ago since P e te r N uyts came out here to Australia, still, in the history of the WO) Id, th a t is a very short time. H e came into the Australian B ight about the same time th a t General Carpentier sailed round the Gulf at the n o r th —now called the Gulf of Carpentaria. Some say th a t the Gulf was called after Carpentier, Governor-General of Batavia.

Tlius you see, my dear little boy, tha t by degrees, all the north and west sides were sailed round by the time of which we are learning.

The D utch are the people who live in Holland.

A s such a number came here in these early days, you will, no doubt, think it strange tha t after all this we are not D utch people in this country.

By and bye you shall hear how it was th a t we came to be British people in Australia.

When you get older, too, you shall learn how the great English nation has always been best of all modern countries at colonizing.

Colonizing means forming new countries and settling them.

In America there were many Spanish, Dutch, and French colonists, but the English speaking race prevailed in the end.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 11

One reason that the D utch did not care to people tins country was tha t they judged it by the coasts they saw.

The coast line, where the Dutch came, is dry and barren.

The people came and looked at it, and did not stay when they saw how bare and dreary it looked.

The great wealth of Australia came in the end from her wool.

Also from the discovery of gold and other minerals.

When the D utch came they made maps of the coast, and they can really claim to be the hrst discoverers.

I t does seem strange tha t they missed making Australia their own.

For some years Australia was called New Holland, after the country of the Dutch.

The first man who gave any account to the world of Australia, and who really got to know the natives, was William Dam pier.

This man gave up the wild, roving life he had led in the W^est Indies, and joined the “ Cygnet.”

H is friend. Captain Swan, was in command.

A few years before, the great Captain Dampier had spent five weeks on the north west shores of this country, near Roebuck Bay, in 1688.

T H E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

H e reached Shark Bay on 1st August, 1699, and then cruised for 1000 miles along the North-west Coast.

H e gives an account of the trees, birds, and reptiles he saw, and spoke also of the natives, whom he thought ‘‘ most wretched.”

Dampier wrote many books in a plain, manly style.

H e found nothing to invite a long stay.A ny boy or girl who lives in Sydney, can point

to the statue in Hyde P a rk — of th a t great man_Captain James Cook.

James Cook was born in a mud house (now pulled down). This house was at Marton, in Yorkshire, Pngland. H e was baptised when four days old, and was one of a family of nine children.

Captain Cook was a very fine man, and when you are older, you may read more about him than I can tell you in this little book.

When bush boys or girls go to Sydney, if they do not know where the statue of Captain Cook is, they should ask some one to take them to see it.

Captain Cook was chosen to take a party to the South Seas, to observe the transit of Venus, also to settle the position of New Zealand and its size, in 1768.

I must tell you tha t the transit of Venus is an event which takes place very seldom, and the fact of

THE c h i l d ’s HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. 13

James Cook having been sent in command of the ship, shows tha t he was trusted, and was what is called a reliable man.

I daresay you have seen Venus, th a t bright star in the West, after sunset, often called the evening star.

Venus is the nearest planet to the earth.

A t the time of what is called a transit—Venus is on a line betweeiCthe earth and the sun.

The reason clever men wish to watch the star pass in front of the sun is that by doing so and marking the time very carefully—using the sun’s face as a dial p la te—they can, by means of what is called a base-line oft Venus, find out the distance of the earth from the sun.

A base-line is a kind of measurement used by surveyors and astronomers, to find out the distance, or how far one place is from another.

When you grow older and learn mathematics, your teachers will explain it to you.

In taking the transit of Venus they use the base-line and get the distance by watching how long it takes Venus to pass in front of the sun.

People are therefore sent to different parts of the world when the transit of Venus occurs to observe her passage across the sun’s disc.

14 TH E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

James Cook’s father was first a farm hand, then a hailiff what we in A.ustraha should call an overseer.

A t thirteen, James Cook was helping in a shop, but had tired of this and become a sailor.

H e had a rude life for many years, but tried to improve his education, and a t last entered the Royal Navy in 1755.

By honesty and hard work he rose to the rank of master.

H e had made some good surveys in N orth America, and knew a good deal about the stars, too.

The English Government could not have made a better choice

James Cook was very careful and took the ship Endeavour,” to Otaheite. H e built forts there

and placed the telescopes ready to observe Venus

Then he thought he would sail about a hit, as he had such a fine ship and crew.

H e went south for a time without meetingland.

Turning west he reached again those islands of New Zealand which had been first seen by Tasman.

Cook went round the islands thoroughly. H e spent six months looking a t these island shores and making maps of them.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 15

Then he sailed away from that part at the place called “ Cape Farewell.” H e bid good-bye, and went westward.

In three weeks his look-out man raised the cry of “ land.” They were close to the shores of A us­tralia at Cape Howe.

H e kept to the north-east, sailed along the coast till he reached a fine bay.

H e stopped there about ten days.

Two very fierce blacks tried to stop his land­ing ; they were very bold.

Cook tried to make friends with them, but it was of no use.

One of the old kind of guns they had then, called muskets, was let off, but it did not frighten them much.

One got a charge of shot in his leg, then he ran to his hut, and put on a shield, and faced the white men again.

Cook often tried to make friends with the blacks, but it was of no use.

Perhaps the poor creatures had a dim sort of insight which told them tha t one day the white man would take the great Southern lands, the only lands they knew, for his own.

16 THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

Now look out on the rnap the places I have named. Poin t to —

Australian Bight.Gulf of Carpentaria.H olland—G reece—Rome.America.Otaheite.Islands of New Zealand.Cape Farewell.Cape Howe.

Captain Cook named Cape Howe, the Pigeon House, Cape George and other places.

H e anchored in Botany Bay on April 28th, 1 7 7 0 .

Captain Cook called the country New South Wales, because he thought its shores like those in Southern Wales in G reat Britain.

You can fancy how, when people are far away from home, and see a }dace like another spot dear to them —they call tlie new spot after the old

Sometimes it is not so very like and yet they give it the same name as the old place, just as little babies are called after their parents or grandparents.

Thus, in English-speaking colonies, many places are named after others—far off in Great Britain and Ireland.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 17

Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander were on board the ship “ Endeavour.”

They found a lot of plants new to them, and th a t is why they named the place Botany Bay.

Captain Cook did not explore P o r t Jackson, but sailed past it and named i t ; he also made charts of the coast—a chart is a map

The first part of the mainland of Australia, Captain Cook knew, was at a point named after a Lieutenant H icks—he sighted it first—on the shore of Gipps Land, Victoria.

Captain Cook’s little vessel made its way up the whole length of the East side of Australia, rounded Cape York, and crossed Torres S traits to New Guinea.

I t was a rough trip ; once the vessel struck on the Great Barrier Beef.

This place is a dangerous mass of coral.You ha Ye seen small pieces of coral; it is made

by an insect and grows into great round masses, like immense rings, under the sea.

These are called Coral Atolls.Captain Cook’s ship got a big hole knocked in

its keel.

They took the ship then into a river, on the Queensland coast, called the “ Endeavour ” river from th a t day till now.

1 8 TH E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA.

They mended the ship before they went on to the North.

James Cook got back to England after his first voyage in 1771 on June 11th.

H e was raised by the King to the rank of Captain.

H e touched at Batavia and Cape Town on his way home.

Then people began to think about the big land which was in the south part of the world, and James Cook was sent out again in a ship called the “ Resolute ” or “ Resolution.”

The English Government sent two ships, for there was one called the “ Adventurer.”

Captain Furneaux was in charge of this last.Only 193 men went in all.H e left P lym outh in duly, 1772.The two vessels parted company.Captain Cook reached Madeira on the 29th of

July, and touched at the Cape of Good Hope.He could find no new land about those parts.

H e therefore set sail for New Zealand.

H e spent the winter among the Society Islands, then went to the east; and afterwards, steering north, he went from Easter Island to the New Hebrides.

THE C H II .U ’S HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. 1 9

Captain Cook found New Caledonia, and got back to England July 30, 1775. H e sailed back to England by way of Cape Horn.

James Cook was then raised to the rank of post-captain.

H e was made captain of Greenwich Hospital in 1775.

Greenwich Hospital was founded by William I I I . in memory of Mary, his Queen, after her death.

I t was once a home for old sailors.

There was a Royal palace on the spot once, between the Thames and Greenwich Park.

The site is a fine one. Greenwich is the name of a town and borough east of Deptford, in England.

I t is a very wonderful and interesting place.

Read all about it you can in the H istory of England,” and other books you may see.

Greenwich Hospital is now a naval school.

That means a place where officers of the navy go to learn.

They left off having the old men there because they thought these brave old sailors would be happier in country homes.

I cannot tell you more here, as tha t story belongs to the liistory of England ; but you can

2 0 TH E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y o f AUSTRALIA.

easily see th a t it was an honour for Captain Cook to be made Governor of the hospital.

Captain Cook got a medal from the Royal Society for a very good paper which he wrote.

I must tell you in a few words, my child, what this is. The Royal Society of London was formed in the year 1645 of “ divers worthy persons.”

A lot of clubs were formed about this time, and the Royal Society was, and is, what we might call a club.

A number of clever men who “ meet weekly on a certain day,” as an old book has it, to tre a t and discourse on “'affairs.”

This band of clever men grew larger as years went on, and by-and-bye the King and chief men of England would ask advice from the Society on important subjects.

I t was, then, the Royal Society of London, who first advised Captain Cook s voyage to observe the transit of Venus.

There are Royal Societies now in other towns besides London.

In fact we have a Royal Society, of which we are very proud, in Sydney.

I must tell you th a t Furneaux looked at some parts of Tasmania and Bass Strait, when the two

THE CHILD'S HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. 21

vessels, the “ R eso lu te” and the “ A d v en tu re r” separated.

The third voyage of Cook brought him, in 1777, both to Tasmania and New Zealand.

P l a c e s to b e f o u n d o n m a p —

Cape Howe, The Pigeon House, Cape George, Botany Bay, New South Wales, Great Britain, Southern Wales, Australia, Victoria, Gipps Land, Cape York, Torres Strait, New Guinea, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Endeavour River, Australia, England, Cape Town, Batavia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Bass Strait, Cape Horn, New Caledonia.

The people at the head of affairs in England, about this time began to think of a north-west passage in the Arctic regions.

Cook said he would go.

They were very glad to accept his offer.

H e was told to visit the Pacific first, to go by the last islands he had seen there, and on reaching New Albion, to go north as far as latitude 65 deg., then to try to find a way to the Atlantic.

H e set sail from the Nore, June 25, 1776. H e cruised for a long time in the South Pacific, found a few small islands; and in the spring of 1777 he bore away to the Friendly Islands.

2 2 T H E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y o f AUSTRALIA.

H ere he stayed some months, and only set sail for the north in January, 1778.

On his way he found a new lot of islands.These he named the Sandwich Islands, after

the Earl of Sandwich, who had taken great interest in the trip

A fter going round the Sandwich Islands, and laying down their positions on a chart. Cook reached the coast of America in March, 1778 ; then went north, and got into the bay afterwards known as Cook’s Inlet.

N o t being able to find a way there, he sailed for Behring Strait, where he found a big wall of ice, and could not get along.

H e went back to the Sandwich Islands, intend­ing to stay the winter there.

H e found Mowee (Maui) and Hawaii, where, you will be sorry to hear, he died in 1779.

I t is very sad to think th a t this good man was killed by blacks.

To us it would seem as though he should have gone back to England after his last voyage, with honour and fame.

B u t the laureH wreath was not for him.God’s ways are not ours.I t was H is will th a t James Cook’s life should

now end.* In olden days returning heroes were crowned with a green wreath

of laurel leaves.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 2 3

The black people at Hawaii were very great thieves. ~

One night the cutter (small boat) was stolen.

Captain Cook went on shore to see the black king about this.

N ot being able to get any news of the lost boat, he took the king and kept him on his ship till the cutter was given back.

Some blacks came and said th a t the English had, in another part of the Island, killed a chief.

They all got excited and Captain Cook let the king go and then made a sign to his boats to come for him.

The blacks threw stones.

Cook let his men go on board one of the boats ; th a t being filled, he himself waited for the other, which was only a few yards off.

H e was thus left alone for a moment, when a man came up from behind and struck him on the back of the head.

H e fell in shallow water, and a t once a rush of natives took place over his fallen body.

He was stabbed in many places,

The boat then pulled off.

The savages took the body of Captain Cook inland.

2 4 TH E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y o f AUSTRALIA.

Only a few bones were got of poor Captain Cook.

These were put in a coffin and buried a t sea.Some relics of James Cook are to be seen in the

Sydney Museum.A compass, telescope and water bottles.

All true Australians love and honour the memory of the great sailor.P l a c e s m e n t i o n e d to b e s h e w n to c h i l d o n m a p —

South Pacific, Friendly Islands, SandwichIslands, America, Cook’s Inlet, BehringStrait, Mowee (Maui), Ohoyhee or Hawaii.

The great sailor. Captain Cook, had a fine form; he was wise, hard working and just.

H is crews loved him because he was kind.H e found out a great deal about skin diseases,

and how to cure them, having studied this branch of a doctor’s work.

Honours were paid to his memory in foreign courts as well as in England.

A pension was settled upon his widow. A pension means some money paid to anyone for past services.

The amount of pension was £200 a year to the widow of Captain Cook, and £25 a year to each of his three sons.

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 2 5

I f a man has done good work for his country in his lifetime the people in power sometimes reward his wife or children, after he has left this world.

Abel Jansen Tasman was a Dutch sailor ; he was born at Hoom, N orth Holland, 1602.

H e made two important voyages in the Pacific and Southern Oceans ; only of the second of them have we a full account.

In June, 1639, a man called Van Diemen, governor of the D utch East Indies, sent Tasman with a man called Mathew Q uaston a voyage to the Western Pacific.

They sailed to a great many places.

A fter this, Tasman was busy in the Indian Seas till 1642, when he set out on his first great trip.

Several Dutch had found parts of the W est Coast of Australia, and the D utch East India Company were anxious to know more of tha t land.

The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602 .

A group of Amsterdam traders had laid its basis, or begun it, so to speak, in the year 1595 ; but its position was made firm by the States General in 1602.

This company had great wealth and power in those far-off days.

2 6 TH E C H IL D S HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.

Sailing from Batavia on A ugust 14tb, 1642, with two vessels, the “ Heemskirk ” and “ Zeehaan,” Tasman on November 24th, 1642, sighted the land to which he gave the name of “ Van Diemen,” in honour of the Governor-General who had sent him.

Now the island is called Tasmania.

H e did not know at first th a t the land was an island ; he took his ship up Storm Bay ; anchored on December 1st in the bay, to which he gave the name Frederick Henry.

There he set up a post on which he hoisted the D utch dag.

Tasman left “ Van Diemen’s L and” on December 5th, and steered eastwards on December 13th.

H e found a “ high mountainous country,” which he called “ Staateland.”

This country was New Zealand.

H e cruibed along the West Coast of the South Island.

Tasman then thought th a t he had found a big bay—he called it “ a wide opening —no doubt this was Cook’s Strait.

Tasman gave the name of Moordenaafs (Mass­acre) Bay to the bay a t which he tried to land.

Some of his men were killed by the blacks at this place.

T HE c h i l d ’s HISTOKY DF AUSTRALIA. 2 7

H e left New Zealand and went north, 1643, but never came in sight of Australia.

Tasman found two islands, which he named Middleburg (Eova) and Amsterdam (Tongatobu).

After finding some other islands in the Friendly group Tasman steered north and west, and got near New Britain on .March 22nd.

On his way back to Batavia he passed Morghen Islands, New Ireland, and along the north coast of New Gfuinea.

We do not know much about Tasman’s second voyage in 1644

H e went to the N orth W est coast of Australia from Arnheim Land, to the 22nd degree of latitude, near where Dirk H artog went in 1616.

You must remember tha t Tasman discovered Tasmania, but at the time did not know it to be an island.

This was on his first voyage.On his second voyage, he was told to go and find

out if New Guinea and Tasmania were islands, or one with Australia.

Tasman died at Batavia, October, 1659, after doing good work in finding out the Gulf of Carpen­taria.

New South Wales is the oldest of the States of Australia.

2 8 TH E c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y o f AUSTRALIA.

How strange it must seem to our little A us­tralians, of whom there are many of the third generation, to think th a t our dear country was once looked upon as a prison.

When the N orth American colonies no longer belonged to G reat Britain, and the convicts could no longer be sent to Virginia, the English Govern­ment began to send them out to this country.

H appily this plan was done away with in 1858.

I t is not a good way of treating people to send them to a new country as a punishment, but in those days people had not learnt many things which seem easy to see now.

W e must all bear in mind though, tha t some of the people who came out were not very wicked. They were sent out for small offences, and in order to give them a fresh s tart in life.

N ex t to Cook—twenty or th ir ty years after his tim e—the names of Bass and Flinders are found. They went on with the work which Cook began so well.

These men began to work at their own privaterisk.

They first found out the correct shapes, both of Tasmania and Australia, in 17‘J 8.

M athew Flinders was born in 1774, and died in 1814. H e was a very clever man and a great

THE c h i l d ’s h i s t o r y OF AUSTRALIA. 2 9

explorer. H e was born in Boston, Lincolnsliire, England.

H is father wanted his boy to become a doctor, but the lad loved the sea and wanted to travel.

When he was twenty-one years of age, in the year 1795, he went out as a midshipman— what you call a middy—to New South Wales in the ship

Reliance.”H e made maps of our coast, and did his work

most thoroughly.Mathew Flinders was very young to do so much.

W ith his friend George Bass he explored George’s River.

George Bass was the surgeon of the ship R e ­liance.”

In the year 1798, Flinders was sent with George Bass—who had already been round part of Tasmania, and the south part of A ustra lia—to sail all round Tasmania to prove th a t it was an island.

Flinders is said to have been the first man to suggest the name of Australia for this continent.

A t this time it was still called Terra Australis, which means Southern Land.

I t would take too long to tell you of all the different voyages taken by this great man.

Little children like little books—when you are older, you will be able to read for yourselves great

3 0 TH E c h i l d ’s HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA.

books, telling you much more of Mathew Flinders and all tlie other fine men who found and improved our dear young country.

Poor Flinders did a lot of hard work. When he was on his way to England in a man-of-war called the " Porpoise,” he was wrecked. Another time ho was taken prisoner by the French people a t M auri­tius.

Tliat was in May, 1802.

England and France were at war with one another. So when Flinders came to Mauritius, the Governor-General, a man named De Caen, made him a prisoner.

The poor man’s papers and maps were taken from him.

The French claimed some of his discoveries.

Even some of tlie names he had given to the places he had found, and called by English names, were changed to French ones.

This was not found out till after he had been set free

All the worry made him ill, and the poor man died at the early age of forty—what we call the prime of life.

In those days life was harder, ships were not so fast, steam-ships were scarcely known.

THE c h i l d ’s HISTORY OR AUSTRALIA. 3 1

Food for use at sea was rougher, and sailors had a very hard, rough life.

P o in t o u t o n m a p —

Hoorn, North Holland, D utch East Indies, Batavia, Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), New Zealand, Cook’s Strait, Massacre Bay, Eova, Tongatobu, Friendly Group, Morghen Islands, New Ireland, New Guinea, Arnheim Land, Gulf of Carpentaria, N orth America, Virginia, Boston, Lincolnshire, England, George’s River, Mauritius

[ E n d o f F i r s t P a r t . ]

TJie next part of this H istory containing Voyage of the Tom Thumb,” “ Arrival of the

F irs t Fleet,” and other items of interest to Australian Children, is in course of publication.

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