Queensland

The Wild White Man of Badu – Ion Idriess

Second printing of the first edition published by Angus and Robertson, Sydney in 1951.

Tall octavo, 232 pages, well illustrated with images from photographs, maps of the islands, end paper maps etc. A very good copy in an even better dust jacket.

The incredible true story of a convict escaping from Norfolk Island and becoming the Chief of Badu. See map on rear end papers for some clues.

Strange and exciting Farthest North.

$60.00

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Under the Southern Cross – Horace Leaf [Intro by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Spiritualism Down under etc] – First Edition 1923

Scarce book and impossible to find with its dust jacket (albeit chipped). A super copy.

Horace Leaf (1886-1971) was a serious spiritualist, clairvoyant with and interest in psychometry and healing. He was a friend and associate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – who writes the introduction. The pair worked together to find the missing Agatha Christie and made contact with Lenin when he was on the other side.

Conan Doyle had done his own tour of the Antipodes and had wanted Leaf with him – Leaf couldn’t make it. Afterwards, Conan Doyle persisted with Leaf to make a trip down under … Leaf didn’t think he had the financial wherewithal … Conan Doyle responded by saying he had left five hundred pounds in Australia for Leaf.

The book is a very interesting read. Published by Cecil Palmer, London in 1923. Thick octavo, 263 pages, illustrated from photographs taken on tour. All in excellent condition – accept that there are three strange pin style holes right through the rear board and the last group of pages – strange and almost unnoticeable – could be some strange experiment has taken place?

Leaf arrives in Western Australia and makes himself busy and then off to the Gold Fields; on to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane before a boat to New Zealand, north and south islands. Returning to Sydney he makes a trip to Tasmania [the only addition to the Conan Doyle route].

This all sounds like a regular travel trip but not so. Along the way we have interesting psychic goings on with some startling occurrences particularly the Melbourne readings. Interesting positive references to aboriginal character. Near the end we have a journey up Mt Wellington Hobart to a tea house to have the leaves read by a psychic – who passes the test – this must have been at the Springs Hotel which burned down in the 1967 bush fires.

Leaf wrote Conan Doyle’s obituary published in “Ghost Stories” in October 1930. Unfortunately, Leaf may indirectly have exacerbated Conan Doyle’s health leading to his move to the “other side”.

Psychic tour of Australia by Conan Doyle Associate.

$120.00

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White Blackfellows – Charles Barrett

Published in 1948 by Hallcraft, Melbourne. Octavo, 261 pages, well illustrated. A very good copy in a nice albeit chipped dust jacket.

We recognise that the title of the book is unacceptable. Accept the book though for the history within. Sixteen different histories from all over Australia. Many of these have inspired other works – Patrick White etc. And, quite a few appear in longer form within the Voyager collection – but in no other place do we have a balanced presentation of so many.

Mrs Fraser, William Buckley, James Murrells, Barbara Thompson etc and the dubious Louis de Rougemont

$40.00

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Reminiscences of an Australian Pioneer – Robert Barton [Uncle of Banjo Patterson] – 1917

Barton’s reminiscences – a “squatter of the olden days”. Born in 1842 in the central West belonging to the first generation to follow the original land-takers in the west.

Barton, was an uncle to Banjo Patterson and spent his life in New south Wales and Queensland. His portrait as frontispiece is rather dull but his life was not.

By 1840 the squattocracy was firmly ‘landed’ and well-to-do. Barton looks back positively to the convict origins of his family’s assigned men. As a young man in his twenties the bushrangers Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall bushranging gangs were part of his life. Later he is confronted by the trade union movement and striking shearers.

First edition published by Tyrrells, Sydney in 1917. Octavo, vii, 288 pages with portrait of author. Original purple cloth rather standard binding, spine faded as usual with the plum coloured dye. Pages toned but clean and some age to ends, ownership details on front ends and the odd helpful annotation from an informed early owner – likely first. Scarce and worthwhile copy.

One on the best Australian Pioneering stories

$140.00

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The Yellow Joss [Coral Sea, Cape York, Torres Strait] – Ion Idriess – 1942

Selection of tales from Cape York, Coral Sea and Torres Strait based on fact. Great photographs.

An early edition published in 1942 by Angus and Robertson, Sydney. Octavo, 266 pages, some age, the odd spot but overall a very good pre-war edition with a nice dust jacket – we love the design. Illustrated throughout from relevant period photographs

Idriess tales of adventure in the very North

$60.00

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Waller’s Owl [Australian Eastern Grass owl] -Silvester Diggles – Brisbane – c1870

Rare original hand-coloured lithograph by Queensland naturalist Silvester Diggles. Published as part of his magnificent work “”The Ornithology of Australia” between 1866 and 1870 in twenty-one parts by Pugh of Brisbane, in a very limited edition. By the time part sixteen was published there were only 92 subscribers. The original plates were executed on stone and coloured by Diggles and his niece, Rowena Birkett.

The Waller’s Owl in modern times referred to as the Eastern Grass Owl. A beautiful reclusive and rarely seen bird which is occasionally seen in New South Wales but mainly in Queensland where it hunts the cane fields and grasslands for rodents. A medium sized owl similar to the barn owl. Colouring tan-brown with black, white and orange mottling, long legs which it uses to snatch its prey from dense undergrowth.

The work measures 38cm by 27cm, good hand colouring pretty clean and undamaged. A scarce item.

About Silvester Diggles

Silvester Diggles (1817-1880) artist and musician born in Liverpool, England. He came to Australia in 1853 settling in Brisbane where he taught music and drawing. Diggles was a founder of the Brisbane Choral Society in 1859 and the Philharmonic Society in 1861 known as “the father of music in Brisbane”. Diggles was also a founder of the Queensland Philosophical Society and helped establish the Museum. His greatest work was The Ornithology of Australia. It nearly sent him broke. His health deteriorated worry about finances being a factor. He died at Kangaroo Point in 1880.

Price $490.00 unframed.

An opportunity to own a rare original owl by Queenslander Silvester Diggles.

$490.00

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The Wild White Man of Badu – Ion Idriess

Under the Southern Cross – Horace Leaf [Intro by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Spiritualism Down under etc] – First Edition 1923

White Blackfellows – Charles Barrett

Reminiscences of an Australian Pioneer – Robert Barton [Uncle of Banjo Patterson] – 1917

The Yellow Joss [Coral Sea, Cape York, Torres Strait] – Ion Idriess – 1942

Waller’s Owl [Australian Eastern Grass owl] -Silvester Diggles – Brisbane – c1870

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