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One of the world's natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 2000 kilometres in a maze of coral reefs and islands along Australia's north-eastern coastline. Now unfolding the fascinating story behind its mystique this 2002 book provides for the first time a comprehensive cultural and ecological history of European impact, from early voyages of discovery to developments in Reef science and management. Incisive and a delight to read in its thorough account of the scientific, social and environmental consequences of European impact on the world's greatest coral reef system, this extraordinary book is sure to become a classic.

Following his participation in James Cook's circumnavigation in HMS Endeavour (1768-71), Joseph Banks developed an extensive global network of scientists and explorers. His correspondence shows how he developed effective working links with the British Admiralty and with the generation of naval officers who sailed after Cook.

The map of Australia abounds with fascinating geographical place-names, the origins of which have, for long, been hidden in the journals of our early explorers. Now after nine years of research, Erwin Feeken, a highly qualified cartographer, and his wife, Gerda, have finalised the first complete record of Australian geographical place-names and the most comprehensive general reference work on Australian exploration ever published. In European Discovery and Exploration of Australia, there are twenty-three beautifully drawn four-colour maps plus index showing the routes of more than 120 explorers with the locality of their named features numbered to accord with a Key to the Maps. The place-names in the Key have been numbered approximately in chronological order of their naming, though places found during a single expedition have been grouped together. There is also a gazetteer containing over four thousand place-names alphabetically arranged with notes on their origins. The map reference numbers (in brackets) form a cross-reference with the Key to the Maps. The work is introduced by a foreword from Lord Casey and an essay on the nature of Australian exploration by Professor O. H. K. Spate, director of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. The text, comprising a survey of Australian exploration, is arranged in the form of biographies of the explorers (describing, for the first time, several almost unknown figures) with emphasis on their expeditions and under the following headings: “The Approach to Australia”; “Exploration before Settlement, 1606–1788”; “From Botany Bay to the Blue Mountains, 1788–1813”; “Land and Sea Expeditions, 1813–1901.” This section of the book is very fully illustrated with 18 full-colour plates and some 150 black-and-white photographs, mostly reproductions of early prints. Concluding the book are bibliographies of sources and references, a list of illustrations, and an index of explorers and ships. The comprehensive nature of this work will ensure that it becomes a valuable reference book for students, while the text and illustrations will appeal to all who are interested in our history. Collectors of Australiana will welcome this most attractive addition to the ever-increasing number of available publications.