Egerinia cunninghami.

Rare engraving of Cunningham’s spiny-tailed skink from Phillip Parker King’s important account of his explorations and surveys of the Australian coast , undertaken 1818-1822 in the ships Mermaid and Bathurst.

Common name: Cunningham’s spiny-tailed skink, Cunningham’s skink
Modern binomial name: Egerinia cunninghami
First described: Gray, 1832
Distribution: SA, VIC, NSW, QLD

The British increasingly feared the motives of the ongoing French presence in the coastal waters of the “unclaimed” western half of the Australian continent, especially so after the Baudin expedition of 1800-1803. As a consequence King’s instructions were to complete the charting of the north-west coast which soon led to the British claiming Western Australia, on 2 May 1829.

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 1084/1130.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987 : pp. 161-163, 84b..
Abbey, J.R. Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860. London 1972 : 573.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 927.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 737186
State Library New South Wales: CALL NUMBERS 980.1/131C1 , 980.1/131B1
State Library Victoria: Record ID 993297803607636
State Library South Australia: 919.4042 K54
Australian National Maritime Museum: Object No: 00004331