Joseph Banks – In AustraliaThe country is very level and fertile; the soil, a kind of grey sand; and the climate mild: and
though it was the beginning of winter when we arrived, every thing seemed in perfection.
There is a variety of flowering shrubs; a tree that yields gum; and a species of palm ...
We saw a great number of birds of a beautiful plumage; among which were two sorts of
parroquets, and a beautiful briquet: we shot a few of them, which we made into a pie, and
they ate very well.The variety of flowering shrubs were of course the banksia and no other landscape
in the world is so dominated by one genus. Coast banksia (Banksia integrifolia) would
have been one of the first trees seen as they came ashore. Nearby they found the rugged
saw banksia (Banksia serrata) in flower and bearing massive fruiting cones, and the
heath-leaved banksia (Banksia ericifolia) with small narrow leaves and golden-orange
flowers.
The crew went ashore to reprovision the Endeavour, blunting their axes on the
eucalyptus hardwoods while cutting timber for fuel, cutting grass to feed the animals
Landing of Cook, Banks and Solander at Botany Bay, E. Phillips Fox, 1902, National Gallery of Victoria33