Sydney Parkinson

Book excerpt: Sydney Parkinson was one of the botanical artists on Captain Cook's journey's on the Endeavour. He was the first botanical artist to draw and paint plants collected on the exploratory voyages and he was the first artist to set foot on Australian soil, to draw an authentic Australian landscape, and to portray Aboriginals from direct observation. Everything is included in this large volume in the way of explanatory texts which accompany over 250 plates, nearly all of them executed by Parkinson as original drawings and paintings. The chapters correspond to the main areas in which discoveries were made. Much of the original material is still available for inspection at the British Museum (Natural History). A substantial proportion of the plates are in full colour, and included with them is information about the current whereabouts of the original material.