The Russians at Port Jackson
1814-1822

by Glynn Barratt

"In the early nineteenth century Russian ships en route from Europe to what is now Alaska fairly often called in at Sydney. While the ships remained in Sydney, at anchor in Port Jackson, some highly observant and well educated naval officers, and even seamen, had close dealings with the Aborigines of the locality, especially the failing Cammeraigal tribe, and certain of them recorded accurately what they saw and heard.

"This book offers readers the first English translations of the "Sydney sections" of eye witness accounts by nine Russians who came to Australia with the ships Suvorov (1814), Blagonamerennyy, Otkrytiye, Vostok and Mirnyi (1820), and Apollon (1822), among them the famous Captain Bellingshausen who was the first to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent.

"The book is illustrated with contemporary Russian Sketches of the Port Jackson area and with recent photographs by the author of Aboriginal artefacts collected by the Russians in the Sydney area up to 1822 and now housed in museums in the USSR.

The above text is quoted from the back cover of the book.

Published 1981, in Australia by the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies
PO Box 553 Canberra City ACT 2601 Australia

National Library of Australia
ISBN : 0 85575 114 2 (Hard Cover)
ISBN : 0 85575 114 2.