Guest Speaker:
Margaret Cameron-Ash
Our guest speaker will be Margaret Cameron-Ash, lawyer and former visiting fellow of the University of NSW. Margaret worked and lectured in law in both Sydney and England, after which she embarked on research which included early Australian history, cartography and stories about James Cook.
Margaret examined lots of Cook’s original journals, charts and other information with forensic detail and has produced the book, Lying for the Admiralty, which is richly illustrated with many landscapes, ships, maps and charts. This highly successful book is now in its second printing.
Through meticulous research, Margaret set out to explain how Cook could have overlooked such obvious features as Bass Strait and the entrance to Port Jackson. Her conclusion: he didn’t miss them - he hid them!
Never have Cook’s journals and charts been subjected to such unbiased, forensic examination. His discoveries had to remain secret until Britain could afford to send an occupation force to fortify the place and keep out the French - hence the publication of Cook’s censored journal and charts.
From the Foreword by John Howard: "The author mounts a strong circumstantial case that Cook both discovered Bass Strait and actually gazed upon Sydney Harbour. Her proposition is that Cook and some of his party walked overland from Botany Bay to the Harbour... She argues that deliberate obfuscation and distortion were tools of trade for the British Admiralty... Such was the colonial rivalry of the time that paranoia about Admiralty leaks were an incentive for deliberate inaccuracies to be included in formal reports of voyages and exploration."
As always, please keep an eye on our website in case of any last-minute changes.
The venue is Gordon Library Meeting Room No. 1, in the Old Gordon Public School, which adjoins the Gordon Library, 799 Pacific Highway, Gordon (corner Pacific Highway and Park Avenue).
It’s just a 5-minute walk from Gordon Station.
For a map and parking information, see our Contact page.
