19th-Century Australian Travel Writing
Barron Field (1786-1846), Esquire was Late Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and its Dependencies at the time of editing his Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales. This collection consists of a variety of descriptions, including geological, meteorological, botanical, of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land by numerous contributors. The sections that may be classified as travel writing are: Chapters 1 (by John Oxley, Esq. Surveyor-General of the Territory) and 2 (by John Uniacke, Esq.), which detail expeditions to Port Curtis and Moreton Bay, 4 (by Mr. Alan Cunningham), regarding exploration from Bathurst to Liverpool Plains, 12 (by Captain Mark John Currie, R. N. ), which chronicles an excursion to the Southward of Lake George. The appendices detail various journeys: to New South Wales, across the Blue Mountains, to the Five Islands and Shoal Haven, on the coast of New South Wales. Generally written in a descriptive yet scientific manner, the work functions as a combination of travel and scientific observations and categorisations of aspects of New South Wales.