Previously published as Australia, the first hundred years, Sydney: Ure Smith, 1974; originally published in Picturesque atlas of Australasia/ edited by Andrew Garran, Sydney: Picturesque Atlas Publishing Co.,

‘The historical sketch of Victoria’ covers the period from 1803 and the first, abortive, settlement of Lieutenant-Governor Collins, to about 1886. It has been adapted, as a small-scale facsimile, from ‘The picturesque atlas of Australasia’, which was originally published in 1886 to celebrate those first hundred years of the founding of Australia. In its present form ‘The historical sketch of Victoria’ provides something more than a mere outline of the development of Victoria up to 1886. The writing style takes us back to that era which few people living today can accurately recall, and the idiom makes us wonder at how we were then. The scores of wonderful etchings reinforce the mood, and at the same time allow us to compare, and to see how things have changed.