"Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land" is a historical account of the exploration of the Australian continent created by Captain Matthew Flinders, a British navigator, and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia. The expeditions started from Port Jackson and aimed to explore the neighboring lands.

The author, a keen bibliophile, has selected 42 books which he believes represents the principal primary source of information concerning the Tasmanian Aborigines.Detailed bibliographic descriptions are provided for each book together with biographical summaries of each author. Then, in chronological sequence, the content of each book is carefully examined with special emphasis on how it has contributed to our corpus of knowledge of the world’s most primitive and isolated stone-age people. Frequent use is made of direct quotation from the original source. The book also contains an introductory description of the Tasmanian Aborigines (with a time line of important events) and a number of illustrations and tables supplement the text.

This book is a demonstration of the richness, worth and vitality of Australian documentary record. At the same time, it is an introduction to collecting Australiana for those who, if not already bitten by the book bug, have been dangerously exposed to it. Readers who are immune to the attractions of collecting but who value our past and its books will also find something to interest them in the following pages.

This book provides a thoroughly researched biography of the naval career of Matthew Flinders, with particular emphasis on his importance for the maritime discovery of Australia. Sailing in the wake of the 18th-century voyages of exploration by Captain Cook and others, Flinders was the first naval commander to circumnavigate Australia's coastline. He contributed more to the mapping and naming of places in Australia than virtually any other single person. His voyage to Australia on H.M.S. Investigator expanded the scope of imperial, geographical and scientific knowledge. This biography places Flinders's career within the context of Pacific exploration and the early white settlement of Australia. Flinders's connections with other explorers, his use of patronage, the dissemination of his findings, and his posthumous reputation are also discussed in what is an important new scholarly work in the field.