Memorias Historicas sobre La Australia.

First edition first Spanish edition, which was expanded by the author with new additions.

The work contains portraits of Jose Serra and the author Rosendo Salvado, Bishops of Perth and Puerto Victoria, respectively. The plates reproduce scenes related to the mission of New Norcia, Western Australia and the Aborigines. On 1 March 1846, a Benedictine mission to the local Yued Aboriginal people was started by the Spanish Benedictine monks Giuseppe Serra and Rosendo Salvado. Within a year the mission was moved to where the town is today and on 1 March 1847 the foundation stone of the monastery was laid.  The place was named New Norcia after Norcia in Italy, the birthplace of St Benedict, home to the Monastery of Saint Benedict.

One plate reproduces the score of an Aboriginal dance, “Maquielo.” At the end (pages 374-386), there is a vocabulary in three languages: the dialects of eastern and northern Australia and Spanish. The relationship of these Benedictine monks with Barcelona was through the monastery of Montserrat, and its abbot, Miguel Muntadas, presided over an important religious celebration in Santa Maria del Mar (Barcelona) on November 13, 1853, to farewell the 35 young missionaries from different places (their names, occupations, and places of origin appear) in Catalonia, Valencia, and Mallorca. They departed on the steamer “Barcino” for Cadiz, where the two bishops and a few other missionaries were waiting for them.

4 leaves, 2 frontispieces (portraits of Fr. Serra and Fr. Rosendo Salvado), 400 pp, 1 leaf. Ill. with 12 plates of engravings outside the text (one of them is the score of “maquialo”, the West Australian dance song), and a folded map (Australia). Light rust stains. Period binding in Spanish pasteboard, with gilt and a label on the spine. Tinted edges. Good condition. 22 x 14 cm. Contains a vocabulary of the North Australian dialect.”