Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia.

the Henry Luke White copy

A very good copy of this important and readable account of the Northern Territory settlement from the library of the wealthy Hunter Valley grazier and collector Henry Luke White (1860-1927), with the Belltrees bookplate.

Harriet Douglas Daly (c. 1854-1927) travelled to the Northern Territory in 1870 following the appointment of her father, William Bloomfield Douglas (1822-1906), as Government Resident that year. Bloomfield Douglas's repeated incomptencies, including heavy drinking, meant he was sacked in 1873 and sent to Selangor. Harriet married Dominick Daly, the nephew of the Governor of South Australia, who both lived in Darwin until leaving for Borneo in 1873. She wrote of her time in Darwin, including the use of her miners rights and meeting the Larrakia people, and then followed closely the history of the Territory from newspapers and government reports up till 1887.

First edition; 8vo (22.5 x 15 cm); large folding colour lithograph map of the South Australia territory with a few spots but still bright, bookplate to pastedown, discreet booksellers stamp to pastedown, some light spotting to first few leaves; publisher's original decorated cloth, gilt lettering to upper board and spine, a little faded and bumped, hinges a little weak, else a very good copy; xi, 368 pp.

Ferguson, 8939; Theakstone, p66.