David Blair (1820-1899) was an Irish Australian who was a politician,
journalist and encyclopedist. 'Blair's Cyclopaedia of Australasia', which he
wrote in 1881 is his most noted book. The subtitle of the book explains what it is about 'Dictionary of
facts, events, dates, persons and places connected with the discovery,
exploration and progress of the British Dominions in the south from the earliest
dawn of discovery in the Southern Ocean to the year 1881'.
The book contains comprehensive information on a range of topics related to
Australasian history including people, events, places and subjects arranged in
alphabetical order. The entries vary in length from a few lines to several
pages. The book gives a unique perspective to Australian history from its time
period.
Totalling over 800 pages, this book is a valuable addition to any library
of Australian history and will be useful to those interested in Australia’s
early history.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the book. This CD has been
bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and
printed out if required.
