The Father of Australia
The Father of Australia
This chapter explores how Joseph Banks earned his sobriquet of “Father of Australia.” It examines projects and activities with which Banks was involved in the 1770s and scrutinize his significant domestic transformation. It talks about the alternative “rebel” club that Banks and seven friends formed because of the petty way the Club of the Royal Philosophers invited guests. The chapter discusses Bank's unofficial guardianship of Mai, a young Raiatean whom he and James Cook had met at Tahiti in 1769 and whom Cook encountered again on his second voyage. It also mentions Mai as the second Pacific Islander visitor to Europe and the first to Britain, where he was considered quite the society celebrity.
Keywords: Joseph Banks, Father of Australia, domestic transformation, Club of the Royal Philosophers, Mai, Raiatean, James Cook, Pacific Islander
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