Lauf des Transport-Schiffes Waaksmaheyd von Port Jackson in Neu Sud Wallis, nach Batavia , im Jahre 1792.

One of only a handful of eighteenth-century maps to focus solely on Australia.

Tasmania is shown joined to the mainland and the east coast according to the discoveries made by James Cook on his first voyage . Having proclaimed the colony at  Sydney Cove in 1788 Phillips proceeded to make prepartions for settlement and to make the colony self suffecient as quickly as possible. The map shows the tracks of the Waaksamheyd after HMS Sirius ran aground on a reef off Norfolk Island on 19 March 1790. The ship’s company had set sail on the hired Dutch vessel the Waaksamheyd on 27 March 1791 under the command of Hunter who steered a longer course to Batavia via the north coast of New Guinea. On his return to England, Hunter was court-martialed over the loss of the Sirius. Although the initial expectations of self sustenance through farming were high from the English-like pastures that Cook had reported, the colonists instead were repeatedly unsuccessful in their early attempts at cultivation due to the poor soil.