By Melissa Mungroo
KZN Literary Tourism project leader Lindy Stiebel recently published and edited the book Thomas Baines: exploring tropical Australia 1855 to 1857 with Jane Carruthers.
According to Stiebel, the book focuses on a little known but fascinating contribution by Thomas Baines to Augustus Gregory’s North Australian Expedition which depicts the artist-explorer’s audacious attempt, in an open longboat with two companions, to link up with Gregory at the Albert River at the southern end of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
‘In this book, for the first time, the remarkably accurate map that Baines compiled of this voyage, and extracts from the accompanying manuscript journals are evaluated and published. The hardships suffered by these men, their courage in dangerous waters and their encounters with Aboriginal Australians provide detailed insights into the complexities of Australian mid-nineteenth century history,’ said Stiebel.
However, this book also illuminates important general issues related to imperial maritime history, the colonial encounter and colonial art. Illustrated by Baines’s accomplished sketches and paintings inspired by the expedition, this work arises from a partnership between South African and Australian scholars. ‘Their combined insights substantially augment current scholarship on Thomas Baines as colonial explorer, naturalist, diarist, cartographer and artist.’
The cover image is taken from an oil painting Baines made from the expedition. It is entitled “The Baines River and its side channel just above Curiosity Peak, Victoria River, North Australia, 1868”
‘This book was a long time in the making, eight years, as originally I had envisaged the material around this expedition (the essays, map, paintings and journals) appearing in electronic format as I had done with the first Baines project I coordinated.’
‘This earlier project appeared in CD-ROM format through the Killie Campbell Library. I was, however, keen to have an Australian publisher for this book given its subject matter – however the electronic format was hard to achieve and we settled for a conventional book format which includes the essays linked to the map and the Gregory Expedition, a selection of Baines’s paintings done as part of the expedition, selected journal entries, and the map in fold out form at the back of the book,’ explained Stiebel.
The book is published by the National Museum of Australia based in Canberra, Australia.
