Australian Bureau of Statistics 1301.0 - Year Book Australia,
1908 Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME)
01/01/1907 |Page tools: Print Page RSS Search this Product| This
article is extracted from Year Book Australia 1908 (pp. 44)
EARLY KNOWLEDGE OF AUSTRALIA 1. Introduction.— On the occasion
of the issue of the first Year Book of the Bureau of Census and
Statistics of the Commonwealth of Australia, it seems
appropriate that a tolerably complete account should be given of
what is known of the early history of the discovery of this
island continent. Limits of space will prevent this being done
continually, and in future issues this account may appear only
in extreme condensation. 2. The Austral Land of the
Ancients.—While it is not possible to state at what time during
the early history of civilization Australia was first discovered
by the western world, that its existence was known in times of
remote antiquity is certain. According to old Chaldean views of
geography, there was an Austral land to