ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 74 | April 2005
Maps Collection: British Depiction of East Coast of Australia (Cushee Globes, 1731)
The earliest-known printed British depiction of the east coast of Australia was recently acquired by the National Library in the form of a pair of matched 38 cm desk globes, published by the English globe-maker Richard Cushee. Both globes are mounted on intricately carved mahogany stands. Cushee was a surveyor, globe-maker, instrument-maker and member of the Merchant Taylors of London who flourished from around 1716–48. He produced globes and maps not only in his own right, but also worked with other prominent globe and map makers of the day, including Joseph Harris and Thomas Wright. Published in 1731, the terrestrial globe displays a speculative east coast of Australia running from New Guinea to the east coast of Australia, with a bulge to incorporate the New Hebrides, formerly known as Australia del Espiritu Santu, or Terra Australis de Spirito Sancto. Tasmania is also joined on the west coast by a wonderful curved line emanating out of Nuyts Land, in the centre of the Australian Bight. The globe differs significantly from the Jean Baptiste Nolin world map of 1700, also held in the Library’s collection, which is the earliest-known printed map to define an east coast of Australia. Nolin executes a significant ‘waist’ to the imagined east coast, in line with the position of the Australian Bight, and does not join Tasmania on the west coast to the mainland. Cushee’s depiction was taken up by Giles Robert De Vaugondy’s 1756 map of Australasia, which was included in the reference library on board Cook’s Endeavour journey to the Pacific in 1770. Cook noted in his diary entry for 11 June 1770 that ‘we now begin to draw near the latitude of those [islands] discover'd by Quiros’, as he charted the east coast of Australia. Robert De Vaugondy’s map only differs from its predecessor in that it shows a clearly defined Torres Strait. The celestial globe, also dated 1731, shows the usual depiction of the constellations to be found in both hemispheres as they were known in the early part of the eighteenth century. The globes were accompanied by a delightful treatise on globes by another famous British globe-maker, John Harris: The description and use of the globes and the orrery. To which is prefix’d by way of introduction, a brief account of the solar system, published by Cushee in 1740. The stand on the celestial globe is depicted on the fold-out plate, opposite p. 35. |
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