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Section 2 Curious to Discover

Samuel Wallis, 1728-1795
Whitsunday Island c.1767

drawing/wash; 28.7 x 44 cm
Rex Nan Kivell Collection ; NK31/1 T1913
National Library of Australia

 

The Dolphin, under the command of Captain Wallis, set sail with the Swallow from Plymouth in 1766, emerging from the Strait of Magellan in April 1767. Losing sight of each other in heavy fog, the ships continued their voyages separately.

The Dolphin discovered five new islands in the Pacific, including King George's Island, now known as Tahiti, where the ship remained for five weeks. The discovery of Tahiti and the accounts of the island's people and customs aroused much interest back in England, and Tahiti was chosen as the site from which Cook would observe the transit of Venus. Wallis served as a Commissioner of the Navy in 1782-1783 and again from 1787 until his death in 1795. Wallis' drawing, the work of a man long at sea, is in marked contrast to later commercial depictions of the voyage.

 

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