European Perceptions of Terra Australis

The symposium that gave birth to the 12 papers was held in June 2009 at the University of Western Australia. Some historians of Australia, but mostly Australian scholars of European history and literature, explore how European cartographers and geographers, explorers and travelers, and poets and playwrights from the 16th century to the 19th perceived Australia. The topics include Terra Australis and the idea of the Antipodes, meanings of the south from the Mappaemundi to Shakespeare's Othello, mapping Terra Australis in the French 17th century as reported in the MAcmoires of the AbbAc Jean Paulmier, Spanish perceptions of the South Pacific 1567-1794, global networks of slavery and sociability in Mary Ann Parker's Voyage to New South Wales, and recovering the imperial context of the mid-Victorian exploration of northern Australia 1855-57. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anne M. Scott is editor of the journal Parergon and an honorary research fellow in English and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia. Her recent books include Piers Plowman and the Poor (Dublin, 2004) and, with Andrew Lynch, Renaissance Poetry and Drama in Context (Newcastle, 2008). Alfred Hiatt is a Reader in English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. He is the author of Terra Incognita: Mapping the Antipodes before 1600 (London and Chicago, 2008). Claire McIlroy is a Research Associate for international liaison in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions based at The University of Western Australia. She is also an honorary research fellow in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia, and author of The English prose treatises of Richard Rolle (Woodbridge, 2004). Christopher Wortham is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Research Fellow in English and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia. He is also Professor of Theatre Studies and English Literature at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle. He has published widely on Renaissance poetry and drama.