Northern Australia was once one the most remote areas of the world. To all its early visitors--Macassan fishermen, white explorers, soldiers, government officials, settlers and missionaries--it was their farthest coast. For all it was an alien and difficult place to reach. Campbell Macknight outlines the history of the exploration and settlement of the coast from the Gulf of Carpentaria west to the Kimberleys in his introduction. He suggest it is a geographical unit very different from the rest of Australia. His selections from the writings of early visitors are exciting and interesting for their own sakes, and an invaluable guide to a region of growing economic and strategic importance.

The Farthest Coast: A Selection of Writings Relating to the History of the Northern Coast of Australia

History

Macknight, Campbell

Australia & Oceania

Melbourne University Press

This book throws open an entirely new window upon Australian history. Almost a century before Captain Cook voyaged along Australia's north-east coast, sailors from Asia were frequent visitors to Marege' (as they called the region) and had even established an industry there. Men from Macassar made the long and dangerous voyage to gather and to dry the trepang (beche-de-mer or sea slug) so prized as culinary delicacy by the Chinese. Trade between Australia and China thus was already old, long before the first export cargo sailed from Sydney Town. This history of Australia's early contact with the world outside is consequently very different from the account commonly accepted up to now; even aboriginal art, so long regarded as wholly isolated from external influence, is shown by Dr Macknight to employ themes from overseas. This strikingly original contribution to the maritime and commercial history of the region is unique also in the diverse sources and disciplines it employs--documents, archaeological 'digs', ethnographic evidence and personal interviews with old men in Macassar who sailed as youths with the trepang fleets--all contribute to the remarkable story. The detailed description of trepanging is of great and unusual interest. The general reader as well as the specialist, will find delight in this generously illustrated volume.

The Voyage to Marege': Macassan trepangers in northern Australia

Business & Money

International

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