Presented by Jillian Hiscock
Following the traditional tea, coffee and cake provided by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV), the second talk was presented by Jillian Hiscock, the Collections Manager of the RHSV, who spoke about “Rare Books from the RHSV collection”. Jillian recounted how she had noticed some interesting-looking books that were kept in the bookcase of the Executive Officer of the RHSV. They turned out to include books that had come into the RHSV collection following the closure of the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society in the 1920s. Jillian showed and talked about three of these books, which were of geographical and historical significance to the Australian region.
After discussing an early atlas, “A new and complete map of the whole world shewing the situation of its principal parts” by Herman Moll, and an English translation of the Pacific voyages of Laperouse between 1785 and 1788 in 2 volumes, Jillian spent most of her time speaking about “A voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas, from Balambagan : including an account of Magindano, Sooloo, and other islands : illustrated with thirty copper plates, performed in the Tartar Galley belonging to the Honourable East India Company, during the years, 1774, 1775, and 1776” by Captain Thomas Forrest, a book which described the early exploration of the coastline and harbours of the eastern part of Papua New Guinea by an enterprising explorer who sailed in a traditional East Asian craft, mostly crewed by local men. This innovative voyage has left us a novel view of a little-known part of our region.
See how or why “You Can’t Draw in Books“, as explained by Alissa Duke