Acquisitions

Longitude and navigation

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:36:10 +1100

The Library has recently acquired a hoard of works relating to the study of longitude in the 18th and 19th Centuries. These include unpublished material from Louis de Freycinet’s personal archive.

Long sea journeys, such as the European voyages of discovery to Australia and the South Pacific, were difficult and dangerous without accurate methods of determining global positioning by longitude. The French government established the Bureau des

Emanuel Swedenborg’s proposal, titled Methodus nova inveniendi longitudines locorum terra mariaque per lunam (1766) describes his method for determining longitude by lunar observations. Cook’s Endeavour voyage used the method of lunar distances for navigation, allowing his crew to chart the eastern coast of Australia. Another proposal, from the French naval officer Charnières, Memoire sur l’observation des longitudes en mer (1767) describes his invention of a measuring device he called the mégamètre.Longitudes to tackle this problem and the British government launched the Longitude Prize. A reward of £20,000 was offered to the first to devise an accurate method of calculating longitude. The problem attracted some of the great thinkers of the day. The texts acquired by the Library represent some of the ideas proposed to solve this problem.

Other proposals submitted to the Board made use of timekeeping devices. John Arnold was an English watchmaker who produced three of the chronometers used on Cook’s Resolution voyage. Included in the new acquisitions is a letter written by the Czech astronomer Christian Mayer in 1781, describing and praising Arnold’s chronometers.

Louis de Freycinet was appointed to the Bureau des Longitudes between his two voyages to Australia, and the Library has acquired some of the documents collected while he worked in this capacity. The archive contains Freycinet’s own translation of a text by Mendoza y Rios on the Reflecting Circle, an astronomical device used for measuring longitude. It is likely that the Reflecting Circle was used by Freycinet on his voyages to Australia, on which he and his crew made scientific discoveries and charted the coast of the continent.

The Longitude prize was eventually awarded to John Harrison, who invented a practical marine chronometer. Because the race to claim this prize contributed to the discovery and charting of Australia by Europeans, these new collections of published and unpublished material are significant additions to the State Library’s collections.

Freycinet's archive can be found in the Mitchell Library collection at MLMSS 9716.

A map of the world in Japanese

Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:50:07 +1100

A map of the world in Japanese was published by Edward Schnell in 1862 from an earlier version produced by Kanga Takedo in 1858.

Japanese maps are known for their exceptional beauty and high quality of workmanship. This chart is a fine copper engraving, with the original hand colouring, measuring 84 x 129.5 cm. The accompanying text is written in traditional Sino-Japanese characters and explains that the map was based on an earlier one by John Purdy around 1845. The accompanying text also includes a chronological list of explorers and the flags of over 150 foreign nations. This map was produced for a Japanese audience but uses traditional Western cartographic conventions and historical content including the routes of significant explorers such as Cook, Vancouver, La Perouse and Flinders.

The publisher, Edward Schnell, was a Dutch-German arms dealer who lived in Japan in the 1860s. This was a period when Japan was gradually lifting restrictions on foreigners, encouraging trade and opening communication with the west. This map is one of the first Japanese maps to be based on the Mercator projection. The first Mercator based map, a new world map on Dutch sources, also held by the Library, was produced only a few years earlier by Seiyo Sato in 1857. European cartographers had been using the Mercator projection routinely for over a century and Mercator had introduced the concept back centuries earlier in 1569. Previous Japanese mapmakers had used a hemispherical projection for world maps.

From an Australian perspective the map contains a curious set of divisions in blue and red ink with New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and most of South Australia in one section. Queensland, most of the Northern Territory and Western Australia are drawn into another section. The south western part of Western Australia is sharply separated along a diagonal line. The northern most part of the Northern Territory, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the approximate area of Quion Island, is shown in a separate section or boundary.

These divisions are curious. By 1860 the current state boundaries used today had been firmly established and these formal state boundaries are reproduced in many Australian maps printed in the mid nineteenth century. There are also a number of geographic features within the borders that would have been explored in more detail by 1860 for example, the blue crescent shaped depiction of Lake Eyre.

Japan's isolationist policy kept most western maps from reaching Japan so even 19th century maps appear extremely out of date. This provides an explanation for the inaccurate depiction of Australia. It is likely that the Purdy map which was used for this chart was a reissue of a map produced by Purdy in the 1820s. This would explain the red and blue division as crudely reflecting the settled and unexplored or surveyed regions of Australian around 1820.

Intended for a Japanese audience, this map was hopefully not the only source of information for the small number of Japanese travellers departing the country.

A short note on access to the digitised image.

The Library is currently replacing our Library and digital asset management systems. Unfortunately, at the moment we are unable to link the digitised image to the catalogue record. If you would like access to the jpeg or high resolutiion image please contact the Library directly and reference this new acquisition entry.

Maggie Patton

Manager, Research & Discovery

Stereoscopic slides of Gallipoli, May 1915

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 11:54:52 +1100

Recently purchased for the Library’s collection is an extraordinary collection of glass stereoscopic slides of Gallipoli, 1915 taken by Charles Snodgrass Ryan.

Charles Snodgrass Ryan (1853-1926), was a doctor from Victoria who had served as a military surgeon in the Turkish army in 1876 when Turkey was engaged in war with Serbia and then in the Russo-Turkish campaign of 1877-78.

For his war services he was decorated with the Turkish orders of the Osmanieh and the Medjidie and the War medal. Later he was to write of his experiences in Under the Red Crescent (London, 1897), see Australian Dictionary Biography, accessed 2/6/2015.

When war was declared in 1914, Ryan was appointed assistant director of medical services, 1st Division, Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He sailed for Egypt in October and was appointed to Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood's staff. He served briefly at Gallipoli, facing the Turkish forces will whom he had served some forty years before. In June 1915 he contracted enteric fever and was evacuated to Egypt and later to England.

In the month and a half that he served at Gallipoli, Ryan documented the men and various locations on the Peninsula, including Anzac Beach, Cape Helles, Plugge's Plateau, Quinn's Post, Shrapnel Valley, Russell's Top and Watson's Pier, as well as key Australian military personnel including Generals Birdwood, Carruthers, Wagstaff, Walker, Wright, other officers and men of the AIF.

Amongst these images are four which depict Australian burial parties in the process of burying Australian and Turkish dead at either Quinn’s Post or the Nek during the temporary armistice which took place on 24 May 1915. The high death count had occurred on 19 May during the Turkish attack on Anzac positions. 3,000 Turks and approximately 169 Australians were killed.

Charles Bean wrote of that day;

19 May 1915:

… the dead and wounded lay everywhere in hundreds. Many of those nearest to the Anzac line had been shattered by the terrible wounds inflicted by modern bullets at short ranges. No sound came from that terrible space; but here and there some wounded or dying man, silently lying without help or any hope of it under the sun which glared from a cloudless sky, turned painfully from one side to the other, or slowly raised an arm towards heaven.

Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac, Vol 2, p 161

Ryan captured not only the burials taking place on 24 May, but also the process of the negotiations which occurred on two days prior, on 22 May between General Birdwood and a Turkish envoy, Major Kemal Ohri at General Birdwood’s headquarters. Seen in this image is the blindfolded Turkish envoy being helped along by Captain Sam Butler who is carrying a large white truce flag.

The truce last just one day, from 7.30am to 4.30pm, 24th of May. Red Cross flags were placed in front of the 3000 yards of Anzac frontlines, and the Turks carried out a similar plan, but they used Red Crescent flags. The taking of photographs of the burial parties working on the day of the truce, was banned by terms of the truce agreement. As a result of this restriction, there are few other photographic records of that event.

Diarist Archie Barwick who served at Gallipoli recalled the day of the truce;

… they arranged that they should meet at a certain hour on the next day, which they did, and arranged an 8 hour armistice we were to to bury all men half way between our lines and the Turks, while they were to do the same with their half all our biggest men were picked for the job, no doubt to impress the Turks with the physique of the Australians, and I suppose they done the same, in front of our companys [sic] lines they got no less than 167 rifle bolts off Turkish rifles, we took their bolts and handed the rest of the rifle back and they done the same with ours, I could never see the sense of that, but I suppose they would have a job to get other bolts to fit. Some of the German officers showed themselves, and the Turkish officers and ours exchanged cigarettes and the Turks done the same with our men, while the armistice was on a number of Turks rushed across the ground separating the trenches and gave themselves up, The Turkish officers then so as to stop this sort of thing ordered all men to keep their heads down and we never saw much more of them after that, excepting of course those who were helping to bury the dead our fellows wore a white bandage with a red cross, while they had the crescent on theirs, they wont [sic] recognise a red cross.

Archie Barwick diary, 22 August 1914-September 1915, MLMSS 1493 / Box 1 / Item 1.

Surgeon Charles S. Ryan sitting outside his dugout (marked M.O. for Medical Officer), Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, May 1915.

The Library holds a number of collections of 19th and early 20th stereoscopes. Stereoscopes comprise two nearly-identical images, taken closely together so that when viewed through two lenses, a stereoscopic viewer, the result gives an illusion of a three-dimensional picture.

Margot Riley and Elise Edmonds

Research & Discovery Branch

Dress up and play the Lindsay way!

Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:30:35 +1100

The Library recently acquired a fantastically rich archive from Lindsay’s Leichhardt, an Australian toy manufacturer. Lindsay’s was founded by Albert Leslie Lindsay in the 1930s. The company is still manufacturing toys today, albeit in a reduced capacity.

The story began in Sydney’s inner west, with AL Lindsay & Co making and selling White Cloud shoe cleaner and feather dusters made from turkey feathers. Lindsay used the leftover turkey feathers to make ‘American Indian’ headdresses, and by 1936 the firm was producing children’s ‘Cowboy and Indian’ outfits and a range of printed calico tents.

During the Second World War all non-essential industries were put on hold, Lindsay’s were closed for five months but were successful in their appeal for a special dispensation to continue business. Albert Lindsay was given a permit to reopen provided he only employed people not covered by manpower regulations (i.e. widows, people over the age of 65 or disabled workers). Albert’s philosophy was that he was doing war service by providing toys for the children of men and women who were fighting.

During the 1940s the Lindsay’s began using Buffalo Bill as their registered trademark, tapping into the boom in television westerns such as Annie Oakley, Rawhide and Bonanza. Many of the western costumes were manufactured under licence from the large motion picture companies including Walt Disney and Warner Brothers in the United States. The Lindsay’s pioneered these licensing agreements in Australia and the introduction of television in Australia in 1956 opened the way for Lindsay’s to make the most of the influx of American television programmes. These licensing agreements form part of the archive.

Lindsay costumes enabled children to become their favourite superhero or character from ‘Spiderman’ to ‘Mickey Mouse’, and ‘Zorro’ to ‘The Flying Nun’. Children could be Roy Rogers, Smokey Dawson or Elly May from The Beverley Hillbillies.

When the State Library was acquiring the collection, Albert Lindsay’s grandson Andrew Lindsay advised that his mother Hilarie (Albert Lindsay’s daughter-in-law) was very passionate about ensuring that there were as many costumes produced for girls as there were for boys, and Hilarie routinely devised outfits accordingly. This is a notable aspect of the Lindsay’s catalogue throughout the 1950s to the 1980s. It was a company ahead of the times in demonstrating gender equality.

The collection is significant both historically and socially. It tells the story of a thriving family-run local business that persisted during the decline of the Australian manufacturing industry, in the wake of cheaper imports and the lowering of import duties. The collection also chronicles changes in pop culture throughout Australia, and highlights the introduction of television, particularly the influence of international television programs and characters — such as The Samurai, Bonanza, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Batman — on children’s imaginative play.

While clothing and products related to the Wild West were a staple, Lindsay’s also produced a range of other exotic costumes, including a Ninja costume based on characters from The Samurai, various superheroes, Hawaiian outfits, nurse uniforms, tram conductor outfits and a Space Invader costume. Some of the Lindsay’s costumes were based on Australian characters such as Ned Kelly, but it was difficult for these to win a following given the domination of American popular culture in Australia during the 1950s and 1960s. Later, costumes related to local television shows such as Skippy, Romper Room and Humphrey B Bear achieved some popularity.

This diverse collection includes original artworks, toy designs, promotional material, licensing agreements, toy catalogues, photographs, financial & business records and a small sample of costumes and toys.

In detailing the operations of a locally-owned business, the Lindsay’s Toy Factory Records is a wonderful collection, documenting the social and business history of an Australian toy manufacturer. It is a significant acquisition for the Library, and a treasure trove for generations of Australians.

Sarah Morley

Curator, Research & Discovery Branch

'Somewhere in France'

Thu, 13 Nov 2014 10:17:18 +1100

Over the past few years, we have received a number of World War I diary collections from families of those who served from New South Wales. Among these collections are two belonging to Sydney men: Geoffrey Gaden and Allan Allsop.

The story of how the Library came to receive Gaden’s diary is an amazing one. This one volume diary was found earlier this year hidden under floorboards in a house in Manly, only discovered when the current owners began renovating the house. It is not known why the diary was hidden there, but we do know that Gaden’s brother, Ronald and his wife lived in the house during the war. The current owners wanted to return the diary to descendants of Geoffrey Gaden.

We were able to confirm that Gaden had served as an officer with the British Expeditionary Force. His last years of schooling were spent at Lansing College in Sussex. Gaden then served in the Connaught Rangers, an Irish Regiment of the British Army. He served with the Rangers until the end of 1915 and then transferred to the 6th Battalion in France from December 1915 to April 1918. He served with a Trench Mortar Battery in France and Belgium and also in Russia during 1917.

This one volume diary dates from 1916 when Gaden was serving in France, specifically in the Loos sector. It contains general information about trench and gun locations, along with hand-drawn maps of the trench lines and notes on the work of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA). Gaden details the workings of 2 inch trench howitzers, including diagrams of the guns and their placement in the Loos sector and ‘Railway Alley’. Later in the war, as an acting Captain, he was sent to a machine gun training school in the UK. He served in the Motor section of the Machine Gun Corps, where Vickers machine gun barriers were mounted onto motorcycles and sidecars.

Gaden remained in the British Army as a regular officer after the war. The Connaught Rangers were disbanded in 1922 and Gaden transferred to the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment and was engaged to be married to Barbara Landon in early 1930.

Geoffrey and Barbara had two children during the 1930s and by WW2, the family were living in London. Geoffrey was sent across to France early in WW2, he was one of the last members of the British army to leave Dunkirk.

As the family were living in London during the blitz, the Gadens decided to send their small children back to Australia for safety. Michael and Valerie were 7 and 5 when they left London (1942). They stayed with a foster family at Glen Innes and attended the primary school. Their parents came out to Australia in 1944 and took the children to Sydney where they settled initially at the Watson’s Bay hotel, while a house was built in Pymble. Geoffrey retired from the British Army in 1943. After living in New York he moved to Gordon, Sydney in 1949. He died in Pymble, Sydney in 1967. The current owners of the Manly house managed to track down Michael, Geoffrey’s son in South Australia. Michael didn’t know that his father kept a diary and plans to travel to Sydney to view it soon. An article about this extraordinary find was published in the Daily Telegraph in September.

The Library purchased 5 volumes of stretcher-bearer, Allan Allsop’s diaries in 1920. Recently his son donated additional material belonging to his father who served as a stretcher bearer and despatch rider for the 8th Australian Field Ambulance in Egypt and France. Allan Allsop served in a number of significant battles on the Western Front, includes Fromelles, which he detailed in his diary;

Backwards & forwards we travelled between the firing line and the R.A.P. with knuckles torn and bleeding due to the narrow passage ways. "Cold sweat", not perspiration, dripped from our faces and our breath came only in gasps. The communication trench was about 1½ miles long. By the time we had completed 2 trips (six miles) with the numerous zig-zag turns in the trench and the stoppages caused by the traffic up and down, we were weak and completely exhausted. Stretcher-bearing is no light work. From volume 2 of Allsop’s diaries, MLMSS 1606 / Item 2.

The additional material includes a portrait postcard of Allan on his motorbike as a despatch rider and permission for Allan to visit Paris on leave. A drinking flask and stretcher strap relate directly to Allan’s service as a stretcher-bearer and compliments his diary collection. An additional group photograph of men from the 8th Australian Field Ambulance shows Allan standing second to right. The man standing on the far right is Langford Colley-Priest whose letter diary the Library purchased in 1919. Finally, after almost 100 years, we can put faces to two diarists in our collection.

The 'secret' map

Fri, 16 May 2014 12:42:13 +1100

Nova Tabula, Insularum Iavae, Sumatrae, by Willem Lodewijcksz is an engraved copperplate chart printed by Cornelis Claeszoon in Amsterdam in 1598. It focusses on southern Malaya, Sumatra, Java, southern Borneo and the islands east of Java through to Sumbawa around Java. It includes the first accurate detailed record of the north coast of Java and includes seven scenes depicting the experiences of the first Dutch fleet to enter the region.

Nova tabula Insularum Iavæ, Sumatræ, Borneonis et aliarum Malaccam, suque, delineata in insula Iava, ubi ad vivum disignantur vada et brevia scopulique interjacentes descripta a G.M.A.L. ... : by Willem Lodewijcksz ; Cornelius Nicolai exud. ; Baptista Doetechum Sculp.

The First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia was an expedition led by Cornelius de Houtman from 1595 to 1597. This voyage opened up the Indonesian islands to the European spice trade, later giving rise to the United Dutch East India Company.

The Dutch expedition under de Houtman carried with it a manuscript detailing trading information and sailing routes by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten who had travelled in the region while in the employ of the Portuguese. Linschoten’s experiences advised the de Houtman expedition to enter the region via Sunda Strait, rather than the Malacca Strait, in order to avoid detection by the Portuguese. The Dutch were the first to use this route.

In 1598 Willem Lodewijcksz published an account of this voyage, D'eerste boeck : Historie van Indien waer inne verhaelt is de avontueren die de Hollandtsche schepen bejeghent zijn. William Lodewijksz was a clerk on board the ship Mauritius.

The chart (amongst others) was created to illustrate the achievements of the voyage of the Dutch fleet to the East Indies under Cornelius de Houtman from 1595 to 1597. The original intention was to include the chart in the published account of the voyage. However, Nova Tabula, Insularum Iavae, Sumatrae was withdrawn from publication prior to distribution as the the Dutch wanted to restrict access to information which could be used by rival trading companies. Dutch authorities claimed it had unique and confidential information about the area which could jeopardise the Dutch economic hold over the region.

No copies of the map appear in any copies of the book for which it was originally intended, although the intended inclusion of the chart is indicated at the end of Chapter 18 – ‘Here follows the chart of Java and Sumatra’.

The chart shows the Duyfken – the smallest of the ships in the Dutch fleet, which played a significant role in the early European history of Australia. In late February or early March 1606 Willem Janszoon made the first recorded European landing on the Australian continent, sailing from Bantam, Java in the Duyfken. According to later accounts the Duyfken sailed into a river on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, near the modern town of Weipa.

This map is so rarely available on the market that it is considered virtually unobtainable.

Towards the end of 1598 Theodor de Bry published a map based on the original chart by William Lodewijcksz. The de Bry map has survived in larger numbers and is more readily available.

The State Library of NSW is the only institution in the Southern Hemisphere to hold a copy of this chart – particularly significant when it represents an important period in the history of the Pacific.

This map was purchased with the generous support of the State Library Custodians.

Emma Gray, Librarian, Original Materials Branch

Japanese art: a phase in colour prints

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:00:12 +1100

The State Library has acquired a beautiful edition of Percy Neville Barnett's Japanese art: a phase in colour prints.

Percy Neville Barnett (1881-1953) was an Australian author, book designer and authority on book-plates. Throughout his life he produced a number of small deluxe editions on the arts of print making and book plates. Many of these were years in the making and were published with hand coloured prints and book plates which he personally tipped into each volume. Each work was written, designed and published by Barnett and were printed by the Beacon Press using the highest quality materials he could find. Barnett was a great appreciator of the book as an objet d'art.

Barnett developed an interest in Japanese wood-block colour-prints in the 1930s. Japanese art: a phase in colour prints is just one of a number of books he produced on Japanese art during the 1930s and 1940s. Japanese art explores Barnett’s interest through a series of beautiful, tipped in, Japanese wood block prints. The prints within the book are drawn from the collections of the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints and the Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho. The images depict the Japanese natural world and birds and Japanese flora are predominant. The prints are accompanied by Barnett’s text describing the art of wood-block prints and their place in Japanese art.

This volume is a welcome addition to the State Library’s existing holdings of Percy Neville Barnett’s works on bookprinting and Japanese art, which includes proofs of Barnett’s bookplates.

This particular volume is number 82 of a limited edition of 160 and can be found at HQ 2014/65.

Simon Cootes
Collection Development Librarian

Guide to and description of the Binda or Fish River Caves by George Rawson, [ca. 1882]

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 14:16:59 +1100

The Library recently acquired a fabulous guide to the Fish River Caves, titled ‘Guide to, and description of the Binda or Fish River Caves by George Rawson’, written around 1882. At the time this account was written, the caves were known as the Fish River Caves, and sometimes the Binda Caves. The name was confusing, as the caves were not actually on the Fish River, and in 1884 the name was changed to Jenolan Caves. In the 1880s, Jenolan Caves began to emerge as a genuine tourist destination. As more caves within the system were discovered and opened up, development began within the caves, including the construction of pathways, and measures were introduced to ensure the protection of formations.

The guide, written by an enthusiastic 22 year old, provides a detailed description, not only of the caves themselves, but also of the means by which visitors might enjoy them by providing advice on travel to the caves, accommodation available for visitors and equipment required to explore them. In addition, Rawson includes some sketches of geological features in the caves.

The volume is dedicated to Mr Geo. Cardinal ‘In grateful remembrance of their most enjoyable visit to the Fish River Caves’. This statement implies that Mr Cardinal was present on the expedition. Unfortunately Mr Rawson does not name any of the group that travelled to the Caves, although it is believed that there were at least eight ladies in the underground party. It is intriguing to know the link between Mr Cardinal and the author of the Guide …

We do know that four years after the expedition Mr Rawson married Mr Cardinal’s adopted daughter Matilda. Was Matilda one of the eight ladies on the expedition? Did they meet and fall in love on the trip, with the romantic backdrop of the Caves? Or did Mr Rawson write the account whilst courting Matilda in an effort to gain Mr Cardinal’s approval?

The original Guide is located in the Mitchell Library’s manuscript collection at MLMSS 9411.

The manuscript has recently been published by the Jenolan Caves Historical & Preservation Society and this interesting edition can be found in the Mitchell Library collection at 551.47099/1

Sarah Morley, Manuscripts Librarian

A Year of Southern Hemisphere Birds

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 11:18:29 +1100

The State Library has acquired a beautiful set of artists’ books produced by an Australian artist, Louise Jennison.

A Year of Southern Hemisphere Birds is an artists’ book which continues the ornithological tradition of John James Audubon and John Gould. This unique work is a handmade book and has been a year in the making. The work features 12 hand-drawn pencil on paper illustrations of Southern Hemisphere birds, one for each month of the year. The species depicted include the Yellow-billed Kingfisher, the Red-rumped Parrot and the Southern Booboo. Each bird is shown surrounded by images of its food and habitat and the things which it does. The images of the birds are accompanied by Gracia Haby’s explorer’s narrative which provides a prose description of each species. The work portrays birds as creatures similar to humans in the way in which they build their homes and lead their lives.

A Flight of Twelve Southern Hemisphere Birds, is a companion volume to this work. Flight reproduces the portraits from the original work but in each portrait the bird has been hand coloured. Flight is published in a concertina format which folds to form a volume with two cloth bound covers. The Library’s copy is one of only ten published.

The Library holds a rich collection of artists’ books which celebrate the book as an objet d’art and these two books are an excellent addition to this collection.

A Year of Southern Hemisphere Birds is located at X/82.
A Flight of Twelve Southern Hemisphere Birds is located at H 2013/7234.

Simon Cootes
Collection Development Librarian

Die Papuaner

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:34:58 +1100

The State Library has acquired a copy of Die Papuaner, an early 19th Century novella set in New Guinea featuring an Aboriginal Australian character. This is a significant work as it is potentially the first characterisation of an Aboriginal Australian in fiction following European settlement in 1788. Only one other copy of this appears to be recorded in collections worldwide.

Die Papuaner is a German language novella from 1810. Set in a fictional New Guinea settlement, it includes amongst its cast of characters an Aboriginal Australian named Nanguar. Presented as a Christian and a fluent English speaker, his character serves as an interpreter to the captain of a European sailing ship who visits New Guinea and begins a settlement.

Throughout the novella Nanguar is depicted as an intelligent, innovative and independent thinker whose contribution to the settlement and the European characters is crucial. Further, with the exception of the principal characters, the novella includes negative characterisations of Europeans, militarisation and overall serves as a parable, warning of the dangers of the lust for power.

The work shows the unselfconscious prejudices of 19th Century Europe. The Papuans of the novella are depicted as “noble savages” who are in awe of the benevolent European settlers and who, like Nanguar, become Christian converts.

Die Papuaner is located at MRB/207.

Simon Cootes
Collection Development Librarian