Australia's Coast of Coral and Pearl

Peter Lancaster Brown

Published by Seal Books, softcover, illustrated
handgeschreven tekst op schutblad.

The north-west coast of Australia was probably the first part of the continent on which the mariners of the ancient world set foot. Australia's Coast of Coral and Pearl recounts various fascinating episodes from the history of discovery in this area of Australia.
The author also writes about his own twentieth century adventures in whaling, beachcombing and crayfishing in the Australian north-west. He weaves into his account stories about the famous and colourful historical characters that went before him; figures such as Daisy Bates who championed the Aboriginal cause, and the explorers who followed in Dampier's wake.

As a self-taught naturalist, the author provides an absorbing account of the exotic anima] and bird life in the area. He relates how he unwittingly joined a partnership of twentieth century gold buccaneers while crayfishing in the Abrolhos Islands, and the book ends with his involvement in an intriguing treasure island mystery which at the present time remains unsolved.

Peter Lancaster Brown was bom in Yorkshire in 1927, and has travelled widely in many parts of the world, working in turn as a surveyor, geologist, miner, beachcomber, engineer, prospector, biologist and freelance writer. He lived for a number of years in the Australian outback and then spent a year on a remote Antarctic island, about which he writes in a previous book called Twelve Came Back.

Mr Lancaster Brown is married to a Norwegian and now Jives partly in Buckinghamshire and partly in Norway. He is passionately interested in travel and astronomy. One of his recent ventures was a trip to Siberia in 1968 to observe a total eclipse of the sun. He is actively engaged with many international scientific societies. He is well known as a regular contributor to numerous periodicals.