The John and Jacqui Mullen Collection - Dr Kimberley Webber’s favourite items The John and Jacqui Mullen Collection - Dr Kimberley Webber’s favourite items  

The Spice Map is a rare example of the work of noted Dutch cartographer and geographer, Petrus Plancius (1552-1622). He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Dutch move to break Portuguese control over the sea route to Asia and thereby to gain access to its rich resources, whilst also acquiring new knowledge of the southern hemisphere, its geography and culture.

This coloured copperplate is the third edition of Plancius’ Spice Map of the East Indies, first produced in 1592, which was printed by Claes Janszoon Visscher in 1617. It is richly decorated and includes depictions of the precious spices which were so valued by Europeans: nutmeg, cloves and sandalwood.

The title cartouche states ‘The islands of the Moluccas are very famous because of their extremely great wealth in spices, which they export over the whole world’.

By the time this map was published in Amsterdam, the Dutch had come to rival the Spanish and Portuguese in South-East Asia through their monopoly on trade. Importantly, it includes New Guinea, which although shown as separate from ‘The Beach’, is described as in all likelihood part of the ‘Great South Land’ rather than an island. 

The map’s purpose was not to aid navigation but rather to promote interest in this little-known region. Beautifully illustrated and hand-painted, this exceptionally rare Spice Map was likely intended as a display piece for a wealthy patron. 

A rare complete set of volumes of the noted French explorer Louis-Claude de Freycinet (1779-1842). In 1817, he had been given command of L’Uranie with instructions to circumnavigate the world. 

On 17 September 1817, L’Uranie left Toulon, visiting Australia, the East Indies and the Pacific. Among the 123 on board, were artists Jacques Arago (1790-1855) and Alphonse Pellion (1796-1868), ship’s surgeons -- Jean-René Quoy (1790-1869) and Joseph-Paul Gaimard (1793-1858) -- and pharmacist Charles Gaudichaud (1789-1854). All were expected to make notes on the peoples, plants and animals encountered and to collect specimens for the Musée National de Histoire Naturelle in Paris. 

On his return to France, Freycinet spent the rest of his life overseeing this publication, producing one of the most beautiful and comprehensive studies of Australia and the Pacific, including two history volumes, as well as volumes on zoology, botany, navigation, hydrography, magnetism and meteorology. 

This four-page Memorial, printed in 1611 by the explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (1563-1614) is considered a foundation document for the exploration of the Pacific and the discovery of the Great South Land. Signed on the reverse by de Queirós, this is an exceptionally rare document. 

It is one of 60 petitions that he presented to the court and King Philip III of Spain between 1607 and 1614, following his return from two voyages to the southern oceans. Only 14 were printed, including Memorial Number 11 where he explains the need for the government’s support for a further voyage which would bring Christianity to the inhabitants and promote trade, ‘an inestimable service to God and great increase in revenue’.

De Queirós had already twice sailed across the Pacific, landing in the New Hebrides in 1606 and naming it ‘La Australia de Espiritu Santo’ (after the southern wind, the Austral) before sailing through Torres Strait. Having finally attained the King’s approval for a third voyage, he died two months after setting out in April 1615.

Although de Queirós never saw Australia, his passionate belief in the continent’s existence encouraged further expeditions by Spanish, Dutch and English adventurers. 
 

Having visited the west coast and sailed north to Timor, Louis de Freycinet sailed into Sydney Harbour on 19 November 1819. This is his copy of the Port Regulations issued by Governor Macquarie to arriving vessels. The government wanted to control imports and exports, and to ensure that convicts did not escape. Macquarie also hoped to minimise harm to First Nations people and warned that ‘any personal Injury, Violence or Insult whatever offered or done’ would result in prosecution. 

A month later, the Sydney Gazette reported that the visit of L’Uranie ‘has called forth all the gaiety of the Colony’. Freycinet’s wife, Rose, appreciated the generosity of the Governor who sent a barge to take them to his Parramatta ‘chateau’ accompanied by another vessel with the regimental band on board ‘to enliven our way’ 

This collection of the works of the English buccaneer William Dampier, acquired by Phillip Parker King (1791-1856) in 1817, provides a unique insight into the responses of two Englishmen – separated by some 120 years – to north-western Australia.

Dampier first visited in 1688 when a crew member of the privateer ship Cygnet. On his return to England, he published A New Voyage Round the World, which was critical of the country he saw, the ‘dry sandy soil, destitute of water’ and of the First Nations people he encountered. Dampier returned in 1699, as Captain of HMS Roebuck, and published three further volumes on his travels. 

Although he remained critical, these volumes contain engravings of plants, fishes and birds encountered on his voyages which are among the earliest depictions of Australian natural history.

At the time this set was acquired by Phillip Parker King he had just been appointed by the British Government to explore ‘with as little delays as possible’ the north and northwestern parts of the coast left uncharted in Matthew Flinders’ (1774-1814) circumnavigation of 1801 that revealed New Holland and New South Wales to be a single land mass. 

Phillip Parker King left 34 annotations in pencil and ink in the text. His most detailed comment is his contradiction of Dampier’s disparaging description of the Aboriginal peoples of north-west Australia. 

This is a rare surviving 18th century world map and an exceptional example of the cartographic art.

It was published in Amsterdam in 1720 by Frederick de Wit (c 1629-c 1706) and, importantly, includes the findings of the astronomer Sir Edmund Halley (1656-1742). 
 

A skilled cartographer, by 1680 De Wit was producing finely detailed world maps in atlases as well as large sheet maps.

This map shows the world known to European maritime powers at the beginning of the 18th century and, importantly, documents the discoveries by 16th and 17th century explorers, including Magellan, Tasman, Mendaña and Le Maire.

This edition includes the findings of Sir Edmund Halley, one of Britain’s leading astronomers and natural philosophers. Fascinated by the night sky, he published star charts and, on a 1680 ‘grand tour’ of Europe, observed the first recorded appearance of a bright comet that would later be named after him.