The History of the Australasian Colonies: From Their Foundation to the Year 1893 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The History of the Australasian Colonies: From Their Foundation to the Year 1893No sane person would attempt to write a complete history of Australasia in three hundred pages. Having, therefore, to make a selection, I have fallen back upon the traditions of that school which regards history as past politics, and politics as present history. Even with this limitation, I have had to go lightly over the ground, omitting much that even I know, and, doubtless, much more of which I am ignorant. I can boast no special qualification for the task, save that I have spent three years in Australia, living as an Australian amongst Australians; but I have not spared to search the best sources of information.Prominent amongst these are the Parliamentary Papers, which contain, for those who know how to use them, materials for not one but many histories of the nineteenth century. And here let me express a word of thanks to the Corporation of the City of Liverpool, which is conferring a priceless boon on all students of modern history within its dominions, by keeping in accessible condition, and under the charge of a most courteous librarian, a complete set of these invaluable records. No private library, scarcely any college library, can afford the space for such a treasure. It needs the magnificence of civic hospitality. The Journals of the Royal Geographical Society have been my authority for the chapter on internal exploration; many of the accounts which they contain are written by the explorers themselves. For the early voyages which resulted 111 the discovery of the coast line of Australasia, I have used the contemporary histories. All these authorities have been supplemented by personal research amongst the Government archives at Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.