[A] Voyage to Australia - a diary of Captain Robert Miller Hunter for the years 1838-1840 Edited by RG Richardson ISBN 9780980388503, published in 2007 by RG and FJ Richardson softcover, b/w, 87 pages Price $A24.95 plus $A6.50 postage within Australia, overseas postage please request a quote

No this is not a book about weeds, but it is interesting anyway.

Departing St Katherine’s Docks, London on the 18 November 1838 the barque Regulus set sail for Sydney, NSW. On board, Chief Officer RM Hunter recorded the events of the voyage and his thoughts, observations and prejudices in a personal diary. Nine days out from London the Regulus encounters a gale and is severely damaged and has to return to Plymouth for extensive repairs before recommencing the voyage in March 1839. They arrived in Sydney four months later on the 24 July 1839.

The pages of Hunter’s diary are reproduced in A Voyage to Australia along with a transcription of each page. He returns to London with the Regulus arriving at the end of April 1840 where eventually he is given command of the Regulus and leaves in June 1840 on a return voyage to Australia. The diary entries end in October 1840 with the Regulus in the Indian Ocean bound for Sydney.

A Voyage to Australia opens a window on the lives and experiences of seafarers and gives us a unique vision into their world of almost 170 years ago. This small book will appeal to those with an interest in maritime history or simply a love of the sea.