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The famous explorer of the Arctic region, Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) was appointed Governor of the penal colony of Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) in 1837. At first enthusiastically welcomed by the free colonists of the island, Franklin quickly became embroiled in political and administrative difficulties, and his compassion for convicts and aboriginals alike was incompatible with his duties. In 1843, colonial officials loyal to his predecessor succeeded in getting Franklin recalled by sending damaging accounts of his conduct to London. This pamphlet was Franklin's defence of his own character against these misrepresentations, but he was not to see his reputation recovered. He completed the book on 15 May 1845, just days before he departed on another Arctic expedition to search for the North-West Passage. Franklin and his entire crew died on the journey, and only many years later was the tragic fate of the expedition discovered.

George William Rusden (1819-1903) was born in England but spent most of his life in Australia. When he retired from the civil service he wrote this comprehensive - and controversial - work, published in 1883 in three volumes, covering the period from the initial settlement to the late nineteenth century.

Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792-1855) was an acclaimed surveyor and explorer of Australia. In this illustrated two-volume work, based on his expedition journals and first published in 1838, Mitchell vividly describes the landscapes and peoples of the interior of Victoria and New South Wales between 1831 and 1836.

Well-known for his history of New Zealand, The Long White Cloud, the statesman William Pember Reeves (1857-1932) published this scholarly account of social legislation in 1902. The two volumes survey the radical and experimental laws in Australasia during this period, providing a candid assessment of colonial issues.

This 1847 publication by the artist George Angas (1822-86) describes his experiences in the young colonies of South Australia and New Zealand in the early 1840s. His interest in ethnology and natural history is apparent in his vivid descriptions of indigenous peoples, landscapes, flora and fauna.

J. S. Polack (1807-82), businessman and land speculator, spent most of the 1830s in New Zealand. In this 1838 publication, still regarded as an important, impartial source, he records his experiences there, vividly describing the country's natural history, his encounters with the Maori, and his observations of their culture.

In this two-volume 1841 work, Sir George Grey (1812-98) writes about two expeditions to North-West Australia that took place under his leadership in 1837-9. Both expeditions encountered difficulties and Grey himself was seriously wounded. The work reflects contemporary attitudes towards the colonies and their indigenous peoples.

As a surgeon and naturalist for the New Zealand Company, Ernst Dieffenbach (1811-55) travelled widely in the North Island between 1839 and 1841. First published in 1843, this highly readable two-volume account of his discoveries and experiences covers the landscapes, flora, fauna and native islanders.

In 1852, William Howitt arrived in Melbourne, the new and burgeoning capital of Victoria, and headed for the Australian goldfields. His lively description of the growing city, the huge numbers of prospectors and profiteers, and the hardships of travel and mining, was published in 1855 after his return to London.

John Lort Stokes (1812-85) was an officer on H.M.S. Beagle - the ship that had carried naturalist Charles Darwin. The ship's next commission was a survey of Australia, which lasted nearly six years, and Stokes published a two-volume account of it in 1846. Volume 1 covers exploration in north-west Australia.

Published in 1833, this two-volume account by Charles Sturt (1795-1869) documents the difficulties of exploring unmapped territory in the harsh climate of the Australian summer. Volume 1 focuses on Sturt's expedition along the Macquarie and Darling rivers, and his encounters with the Aboriginal population of that region.

Written by a convicted pickpocket and punctuated by colourful plates and vignettes, George Barrington's 1802 account of murder, theft, punishment and retribution in New South Wales continues to entertain and inform anyone with an interest in colonial, maritime or criminal history.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield(1796-1862) was a controversial colonial advocate and political theorist. He formed the New Zealand Association in 1837 with the aim of creating a colony in the country. This volume, first published in 1839, contains a detailed descriptions of the Association's plans to colonize New Zealand.

Coghlan was the statistician for New South Wales from 1886, and is regarded as Australia's first 'Mandarin'. First published in 1903, and benefiting greatly from the author's extensive hard statistical data, this was one of the first comprehensive histories of Australia, charting her development from penal colony to urbanised democracy.

First published in 1893, this work provided the English public with a detailed account of Australian life and culture. Adams divides his study in two parts, the first describing life in the coastal settlements, the second focusing on the eastern interior of the country.

English-born minister John West (1809-1873) moved to Tasmania in 1838 and became a critic of convict transportation. A supporter commissioned him to write this history, and the two volumes were published in 1852. Volume 1 describes the European settlement of the island.

Timothy Coghlan was the statistician for the government of New South Wales from 1886, and is regarded as Australia's first 'mandarin'. This monumental book, first published in 1918, was the culmination of his life's work, and is a personal history of Australia embracing materials, trade, population growth and land.

An outspoken advocate of Australian republicanism, John Dunmore Lang (1799-1878) wrote this 1834 two-volume work to promote immigration and investment in his adopted country. Compiled during a voyage from New South Wales to Britain, the book illustrates the past history and present state of the New South Wales colony.

In 1865, following a two-year visit to Australia, the prolific English writer William Howitt published this two-volume account of the European exploration of Australia and New Zealand. Volume 1 includes the voyages of Abel Tasman and Captain Cook, and other explorers up to the 1840s including Fitzroy and Darwin.

James Francis Hogan (1855-1924) wrote several histories of Irish colonisation in Australia. This 1891 publication presents the colourful autobiography of Jorgen Jorgenson (1780-1841), a Danish adventurer , briefly 'King of Iceland', who insinuated himself into influential social networks in Britain but was eventually transported to Tasmania as a convict.

Published shortly after his death in 1862, Flanagan's chronicle demonstrates the author's enthusiastic, but politically impartial, approach to Australian history. Opening with Cook's voyage of 1770, Volume 1 covers the first sixty-eight years of European immigration, and the political, criminal and military skirmishes that shaped the new British colony.

A sympathetic anthropological account of the Tasmanian aborigines by non-conformist mystic James Bonwick (1817-1906), whose further work on the subject was cited by Darwin, provides important source material about this nearly extinct people and gives insights into the morally difficult subjects of nineteenth-century anthropology and colonial settlement.

In 1840, a young Edward John Eyre embarked on a pioneering trek from Adelaide to Western Australia. Published in 1845, this account enables readers to 'accompany' the explorer on his harrowing expedition. Volume 1 relates some of the darkest moments he witnessed, including desperate searches for water, conflict, and murder.

James Tuckey (1776-1816) was the first lieutenant on H.M.S. Calcutta when it was given orders in 1802 to sail to Port Phillip, New South Wales (today's Melbourne), establish a convict colony and conduct a survey of the area. Tuckey recalls the journey in this account, published in 1805.

In 1879 the young journalist John Henniker Heaton (1848-1914) published this pioneering two-part dictionary. Containing biographies of notable men and women with Australian connections, and covering topics from Aboriginal cricketers to the Zig Zag railway, it remains a valuable resource for the history of European settlement in Australia.

James Fenton (1820-1901), a pioneer, wrote this history of the island in 1884. It is an important work for those interested in colonialism and the history of Australia, as it documents the building of the colony (including the involvement of convicts) and the treatment of the native aborigines.

In 1835 journalist Henry Saxelby Melville (1799-1873) was jailed for contempt of court over his coverage of a trial in Van Diemen's Land, Australia. He used this time to write a critical account of the colony's history and prison system, which was smuggled to England and published in 1835.

This 1876 publication, based on a series of his earlier newspaper articles by David Kennedy Jr (1849-85), is a vivid, action-packed account of a tour of Australia, New Zealand and North America between 1872 and 1876. Kennedy provides fascinating descriptions of sights and experiences from Queensland to Quebec.

This 1864 publication analyses the New Zealand Taranaki Wars of the early 1860s, probing the causes behind the deterioration of relations between Maori and Europeans. The author, a former Civil Commissioner for the Waikato region, both criticises errors by the British administration and describes political wrangling within the Maori community.

Written by prominent historian Thomas Lindsay Buick, this 1914 book relates the circumstances under which New Zealand's Treaty of Waitangi was created in 1840. Signed by British officials and Maori chiefs, this controversial document ceded New Zealand to the British Empire. This second, revised edition was published in 1933.