Marooned on Australia

PAUL AND DIEDRICH ARE MAROONED IN A GREAT UNKNOWN LAND.
BEING THE NARRATION BY DIEDRICH BUYS OF HIS DISCOVERIES AND EXPLOITS IN TERRA AUSTRALIS INCOGNITA ABOUT THE YEAR 1630
BY ERNEST FAVENC Author of “Tales of the Austral Tropics” “The Secret of the Australian Desert” “The History of Australian Exploration” &c. BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY
Dedicated to the Memory of my Friend
Edmond Marin de la Meslee”
by whose accidental death Australia lost both an ardent geographer and an enthusiastic student of the history of the Austral Continent. ERNEST FAVENC

IN the following romance I have endeavoured to associate the tradition of De Gonneville’s visit to Australia with the historical fact of the wreck of the Batavia , and the marooning of two of the mutineers. The wreck of the Batavia is perhaps one of the most murderous tragedies that ever happened in any part of the world. One of the ruffians confessed, before being hanged, to having killed and assisted to kill, twenty-five defenceless people. A full account of the wreck and the massacre will be found in Pinkerton’s Early Voyages .
I have taken a liberty with history in introducing Captain Sharpe, the buccaneer, as in reality he never visited the Australian coast, although some of his crew did. I must also confess to having taken some freedom with chronology as, under the name of Hoogstraaten, I have introduced Abel Janz Tasman many years before his actual advent on the western coast of Australia; and De Witt’s voyage of discovery really took place before the wreck of the Batavia . I trust, however, that in a romance these inaccuracies will be pardoned.
In the appendix the reader will find an account of the setting up of the great Cross by De Gonneville, and the record of Sir George Grey regarding the head carved on the Rock.
ERNEST FAVENC.