On the cover this month
A View in Matavai, Otaheite
hand-coloured aquatint; 29.3 x 43 cm
From the Pictorial Collection
According to Joppein and Smith in volume III of The Art of Captain
Cook's Voyages 'Matavai Bay, by 1777, was the most famous place in the
South Seas'. This depiction of a verdant and as yet unspoiled paradise
bathed in early morning sunlight belies the grim fate that was to
befall the people and culture of the Matavai 'district' of Otaheite
with the arrival, in the 1790s, of the evangelising missionary (Captain
James Wilson, who sought to impress upon the 'heathen' Tahitians - in
the words ofJohn Griffin, author of the Memoirs of Captain James Wilson
(London: 1815)-'the truth, superiority and excellency' of the Christian
faith.
April 1999 Volume IX Number 7
COLLECTING KARMA
The National Library houses a wealth of Buddhist materials. Tina Faulk and Andrew Gosling survey the collection
TAXING THE POOR MAN'S LOAF
The language of economic theory may change but the issues don't. Paul Pickering revisits the debate over the British Corn Laws
PAPER TRAILS
Barry York delves into the papers of Australian historians to unearth some intriguing connections
A NEW WORLD OF STYLE
Penelope Layland looks at the new AusInfo online Style Manual
JOHN WEBBER'S PEOPLE AND PLACES
The travelling artist was very much an eighteenth-century phenomenon. Ed Duyker surveys the life of one who had a keen eye for exotic cultures
FRIENDS
A regular news page about the activities of the Friends of the National Library of Australia
NLA_PUBLICATIONS
Little Book of Birds
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