Colonization: Particularly in Southern Australia:

with some remarks on small farms and over population.First edition. 8vo. Nineteenth century half calf over marbled boards, red morocco label to spine, gilt, slightly shelf-rubbed, book plate to front pastedown. xxxii, 268pp. London, Boone,

Napier's wry tone is evident from the outset: "a former Colonial Secretary having selected me as a fit subject for transportation, it is probable that the sentence may, at some future period, be carried into execution. In the interim, my time could not be better employed than in discussing the subject of our expedition, and the more I consider it, the more I think it likely to answer your expectations; but the dearth of information relative to the shores of Spencer's Gulf is lamentable."

 

With the passing of the South Australian Act in 1834, the colonists petitioned for the appointment of Napier as governor. A hero of the French wars, he wrote this work to set out his views on the proposed colony. Finally, in May 1835, he was informed that the terms he proposed on behalf of the colonists were not acceptable to the Company, so he declined the appointment in 1836 to continue his military career. Although Napier prepared the book from the writings of others, it is, like Samuel Sidney's almost two decades later, of interest as an attempt to present eye-witness reports of the first explorers and earliest settlers to a very wide public.

 

This is, in fact, T. W. Boone's first Australian publication. Over the next twenty years the house would be responsible for publishing first hand accounts of the all the major figures of mid-nineteenth century Australian explorers: Mitchell, Grey, Eyre, Hodgkinson, Stokes, Jukes, Leichhardt, Sturt and Read. Ferguson, 1991.

Stock Code: 212914