Published Resources Details
Book Section
- Title
- Forster, Johann Georg(e) Adam (1754-1794), Writer, traveller and revolutionary
- In
- Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H
- Imprint
- Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 402-403
- Url
- http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010370b.htm
- Format
- Description
Published online in 2006.
- Abstract
Quotes:
"At 12 Georg Forster was already translating French, Swedish and Russian books into English and German, and for a time he taught languages. In 1772-75 he was his father's assistant on Captain James Cook's second voyage. Because of J. R. Forster's quarrel with the Admiralty, A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution … (1777) had to be written by Georg Foster. Its scientific as well as literary merits soon made it one of the most popular travel-books of the time. Forster was made a fellow of the Royal Society and became a member of other learned bodies. "
"Forster published a comprehensive account of Cook's life, personality and scientific achievements as a preface to his translation of the third voyage, Des Capitain Jacob Cook's dritte Entdeckungs-Reise (Berlin, 1787). His essay 'Neuholland und die brittische Kolonie in Botany-Bay', November 1786, is probably the earliest piece of competent information given to the German public about Australia. Forster describes its geography, inhabitants and natural resources, and presents very optimistic views about the future of the penal settlement in Botany Bay."