The Royal Australian Historical Society in conjunction with Historic Houses Association of Australia (HHA) present: Finding Islands of my Own: Phillip Parker King, the first internationally renowned Australian

In 1796, the four year old Phillip Parker King told Matthew Flinders: ‘I shall be a sailor like my papa and find islands of my own’. Flinders never forgot and 15 years later, in 1811, introduced the young midshipman to Joseph Banks and Captain Thomas Hurd, hydrographer to the Admiralty. King was on his way. Between 1817 and 1823, he charted the greater part of the west, north and north-west coasts of the Australian mainland. Six years later, he surveyed the southern coasts of South America and the Strait of Magellan.

About the speaker: Paul Brunton OAM, FAHA is Emeritus Curator, State Library of New South Wales. He worked with the Mitchell Library’s Australiana collections for 40 years and was Curator of Manuscripts from 1986 to 2001 and Senior Curator from 2002–12. He was curator of the exhibition Matthew Flinders: The Ultimate Voyage which opened at the State Library in 2001, and travelled nationally during 2002–03. His annotated edition of Flinders’ letters, Matthew Flinders: Personal letters from an Extraordinary Life was published in 2002.

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