BSR VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS

On 4 August, Ashby and the BAAS scientists left Port Fremantle (Western Australia) on the SS Orvieto to begin the four-day voyage to Adelaide (South Australia). According to Balfour, the following day they '[p]assed C[ape] Leewin early in morning + Albany [King George Sound] at about 2.30. A few whales seen. Leaving the coast for the open Bight in the afternoon.' This map illustrates the Orvieto's route across Isthmus Bay (near Albany) and the places where Ashby took the photographs we will see on the following three pages:

•    Eclipse Island (image 1), taken from the ship's starboard, 
•    Bald Head (image 2), taken from its bow and 
•    Peak Head (image 3), taken from the Orvieto's stern.

That afternoon, as some were discussing Charles Darwin's visit to the area in 1836, Ashby was photographing these landforms for other reasons. As it happened, the 1914 BAAS Congress coincided with Australian commemorations for the life of Matthew Flinders, Commander of the HMS Investigator. He used these landforms as a 'point of origin' to chart the continent's southern coastline in 1801/1802. Given Ashby's recent research on Eufrosino della Volpaia's 'Mappa della campagna romana al tempo di Paolo III', he would have recognised Flinders' genius as a hydrographer and cartographer. On a more personal note for Ashby, the Commander's grandson, Sir Flinders Petrie (the Egyptologist), had only recently lectured at the BSR.
Note: The sunburst flashes across the photos of Eclipse Island and Peak Head confirm the Orvieto's direction and the approximate time he took each image.

All photographs by Thomas Ashby, BSR, Thomas Ashby Collection 
Eclipse Island, King George Sound, Western Australia, TA-XLVI.056
Bald Head, King George Sound, Western Australia, TA-XLVI.057
Peak Head, King George Sound, Western Australia, TA-XLVI.058
Diary: Henry Balfour, 1st of a 3-notebook diary from Australia. 1914. BAAS, Pitt Rivers Museum.