Lust, science, adventure -- Joseph Banks and his voyages of
discovery
The extraordinary life of one of the world's most famous and notorious
adventurers
Sir Joseph Banks was a man of passion whose influence spanned the globe.
A fearless adventurer, his fascination with beautiful women was only
trumped by his obsession with the natural world and his lust for
scientific knowledge.
Fabulously wealthy, Banks was the driving force behind monumental
voyages and scientific discoveries in Australia, New Zealand, the South
Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and the
Arctic. In 1768, as a gallivanting young playboy, he joined Captain
James Cook's Endeavour expedition to the South Pacific. Financing his
own team of scientists and artists, Banks battled high seas, hailstorms,
treacherous coral reefs and hostile locals to expand the world's
knowledge of life on distant shores. He returned with thousands of
specimens of plants and animals, generating enormous interest in Europe,
while the racy accounts of his amorous adventures in Tahiti made him one
of the most famous and notorious men in England.
As the longest-serving president of Britain's Royal Society, Banks was
perhaps the most important man in the scientific world for more than
half a century. It was Banks, one of the first Europeans to set foot on
Australia's east coast, who advised Britain to establish a remote penal
settlement and strategic base at Botany Bay, and he eventually became
the foremost expert on everything Australian. Early governors in the
colony answered to him as he set about unleashing Australia's vast
potential in agriculture and minerals. For decades, major British
voyages of exploration around the globe only sailed with his backing.
By award-winning bestselling writer Grantlee Kieza, Banks is a rich
and rollicking biography of one of the most colourful and intriguing
characters in the history of exploration.
