The Naval Pioneers of Australia

The Naval Pioneers of Australia is a historical account of early Australian naval and exploration history by Louis Becke (1855-1913), the Australian writer and adventurer who spent more than a decade trading and roving in the Pacific islands and became a popular author of South Seas tales in the manner of Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London. Becke wrote the book in collaboration with the Sydney journalist Walter Jeffery, and it surveys the work of the Royal Navy officers who charted the Australian coast and the early naval administration of the colony from the First Fleet of 1788 onward, with chapters on Bligh, Flinders, King, Stokes, and the early Australian Squadron. The book is a primary source for the popular Australian historical writing of the federation era. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.