HTML by Russell White
1. Stokes, J.L., Discoveries in Australia, Volume 2 (T. and W. Boone, London, 1846; reproduced by the Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1969), pp. 270-71.
2. Queenslander, 19 March 1887, p. 460 and 9 March 1889, p. 451; Knight, J.J., In the Early Days: History and Incident of Pioneer Queensland (Sapsford and Co., Brisbane, 1895), p. 7; Entry in Queensland Museum donor register; Annual Report of the Trustees of the Queensland Museum [for the year 1889], Votes and Proceedings, Legislative Assembly of Queensland (hereafter V&P) 1890, vol. 3, p. 1107.
3. Saenger, P. and Stubbs, B.J., 'The Investigator Tree: A natural historic monument,' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 104, 1994, pp. 67-78.
4. Reed, A.W., Place Names of Australia (Reed, Sydney, 1973).
5. Several writers including Pennefather have said that the year 1802 appears on the tree with the name Investigator, but this cannot be substantiated. In fact, it seems unlikely. C. Pennefather, 'Capt. Pennefather's report upon explorations in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and surveys in the vicinity of Point Parker', V&P1880, vol. 2, pp. 1127-9.
6. Boyd, A.J., 'Narrative of Capt. G. Pennefather's Exploration of the Coen, Archer, and Batavia rivers, and of the Islands on the Western Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1880,' Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia--Queensland Branch, vol. 2 (1896), pp. 47-61. Pennefather, C., op. cit. and Pennefather, C., 'Cruise of the Queensland Government Schooner "Pearl" in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Captain Pennefather's report of the exploration of the Coen, Archer, and Batavia Rivers,' V&P 1880, vol. 2, pp. 1123-5.
7. Palmer, E., Early Days in North Queensland (Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1903; republished 1983).
8. E.D.F., 'An Historic Island,' Walkabout, 1 October 1942, p. 1.
9. G.P., 'Historic Island of the Gulf,' Cummin and Campbell's Monthly Magazine, September 1946, pp. 7, 41.
10. Ringata, 'History in wood', Walkabout, 1 November 1943, p. 30.
11. Lack, C., 'History and Potential Future of Cape York Peninsula,' Royal Historical Society of Queensland Journal 6(4), 1961-62, pp. 942-1013.
12. Campbell, W.S., 'The Oldest Industry in Australia: Trepang,' Royal Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings 3(9), 1916, pp. 429-37; Macknight, C.C., The voyage to Marege: Macassan trepangers in Northern Australia, (Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1976).
13. Macknight, op.cit., pp. 93-9.
14. FIinders, M., A Voyage to Terra Australis (2 vols and charts), (G. and W. Nicol, London, 1814; reproduced by Libraries Board of South Australia, Adelaide, 1966), vol. 2, pp. 172-3.
15. Flinders, op. cit. vol. 2, p. 147.
16. A microfilm copy of Robert Brown's handwritten diary is held at the National Herbarium, Black Mountain, Canberra. The section dealing with the stay on Sweers Island (16-30 November 1802) was read and copied by P. Saenger on 14 September 1990, and later transcribed. Edwards, P.I. (ed.), 'The journal of Peter Goode, gardener, on Matthew Flinders' voyage to Terra Australis, 1801-03', Bulletin of the British Museum, Natural History Historical Series, vol. 9, 1981, pp. 1-213.
17. Flinders, op. cit. vol. 2, p. 228.
18. ibid vol. 2, p. 229.
19. ibid vol. 2, p. 230.
20. A holothurian, also known as sea-slug, sea-cucumber and beche-de-mer.
21. Flinders, op. cit. vol. 2, p. 231.
22. Chimmo, W., 'Voyage of H.M.S.V. "Torch", Lieut. W. Chimmo R.N. commanding - from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria,' Nautical Magazine, April-September 1857, pp. 361-62.
23. Chimmo, op.cit. p. 320; Chimmo, 'Account of the Search for the North-Australian Exploring Expedition under Mr. A. C. Gregory,' Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (London), vol. 1, 1857, p. 259.
24. Annual Report of the Trustees of the Queensland Museum, V&P 1890, vol. 3, p. 1098.
25. Queenslander, 'The Investigator Tree,' 16 March 1933, p. 6.
26. Flinders, op. cit. vol. 2, p. 147.
27. Schilder, G., 'New Holland: the Dutch discoveries', in Williams, G. and Frost, A. (eds), Terra Australis to Australia (Oxford University Press in association with the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Melbourne, 1988), pp. 83-115; Sharp, A., The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, (Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 311-332.
28. If it even existed a century and a half before Flinders.
29. An interesting relic,' Queenslander, 9 March 1889, p. 451.
30. Stokes, Discoveries, pp. 270-71.
31. Chimmo, 'Voyage of H.M.S.V. "Torch,"' p. 320.
32. Baines, T. 'Journal,' 5 vols (1856-57), Mitchell Library manuscript C408.
33. ibid.
34. Gregory, A.C., 'North Australian Expedition,' Letter to Colonial Secretary, 2 December 1856, Votes and Proceedings, Legislative Assembly New South Wales 1856-57, vol.2, pp. 171-172; Baines op. cit.
35. Baines's original sketch is in the picture library of the Royal Geographical Society, London, It has been reproduced in Braddon, R., Thomas Baines and the North Australian Expedition (Collins, Sydney, in association with the Royal Geographical Society, London, 1986), and in Saenger, P. and Stubbs, B.J., 'The Investigator Tree: A natural historic monument,' Proceedings Royal Society of Queensland 104 (1994), pp. 67-78.
36. The date of removal of the tree from Sweers Island is unknown. It may have been kept in the Brisbane Port Office for as much as nearly two years before it was transferred to the Museum.
37. Norman, W. H., 'Report of Commander Norman of H.M.C.S. Victoria: together with a copy of his journal on the late expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria,' Victorian Parliamentary Papers, paper no. 124, 1 May 1862, p. 14.
38. Laurie, J.S. (ed.), Landsborough's exploration of Australia from Carpentaria to Melbourne (Thomas Murby/Simpkin, Marshall and Co., London, 18667), pp. 9-10.
39. Bourne, G., Bourne's Journal of Landsborough's Expedition in Search of Burke and Wills (H. T. Dwight, Melbourne, 1862).
40. Queenslander, 'The Investigator Tree,' 16 March 1933, p. 6. It is not known where the writer to the Queenslander obtained this information, but it was presumably taken from Macdonald's own written account of the visit. Such an account, however, has not been found.
41. Gulliver, B.J., 'The Explorer's Tree,' Brisbane Courier, 12 November 1889, p. 6; Queenslander, 16 November 1889, p. 927.
42. This mistake was repeated by Queenslander (1933) and Reed (1973).
43. Chimmo, 'Voyage of H.M.S.V. "Torch"', p. 320.
44. Roth, W.E., 'Report on a visit to some of the Wellesley Islands,' 6 January 1901, QSA A/44681 11679/1901.
45. J.P. Thomson, Secretary, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Queensland, to Home Secretary's Office, quoted in W.E. Roth to Home Secretary's Office, 26 March 1902, QSA A/44681 4870/1902.
Sweers Island and the Gulf: A ChronologyHTML by Russell White