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Section 2

Curious to Discover

 

The eighteenth century saw the development of a philosophical movement subsequently known as the Enlightenment. Accepting reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief and conduct, the Enlightenment rejected the legends and revealed truths of earlier sources of authority-the Scriptures and the classics-valuing knowledge based on evidence, logic and probability. The voyages of discovery made at this time sought to describe and document accurately the new world of the Pacific using astronomical and navigational calculations to produce reliable maps. Detailed journals and logbooks were kept and images of new lands and their inhabitants, plants and animals were recorded.

Documentary evidence from these voyages underpinned both the expanding intellectual horizons of eighteenth-century Europe and the parallel territorial expansion into the Pacific. This region provided challenging new experiences of the world that placed unprecedented pressure on the biblical creation theory, while providing a wealth of information from which to fashion alternative hypotheses-such as those expounded by Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species.

 

1. William Charles Thomas Dobson, 1817-1898
Portrait of William Dampier c.1850

2. Samuel Wallis, 1728-1795
Whitsunday Island c.1767

3. Unknown
The Natives of Otaheite Attacking Captain Wallis, the First Discoverer of that Island 1786?

4. Sir William Beechey, 1753-1839
Portrait of King George III c.1800

5. Sydney Parkinson, 1745?-1771
Bread Fruit 1769?

6. After Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourge (1740-1812) and John Webber (1752-1793)
The Apotheosis of Captain Cook

7. George Carter, fl.1769-1784
Death of Captain Cook 1781

8. John Webber, 1752-1793
View in Ulietea 1786

9. Arthur William Devis, 1763-1822
Portrait of Captain Wilson of the Antelope c.1782

10. Conrad Martens, 1801-1878
Valparaiso, 1834 1834

 

 

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A selection of images from the Paradise Possessed exhibition.

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