Northern Australia was once one the most remote areas of the world. To all its early visitors—Macassan fishermen, white explorers, soldiers, government officials, settlers and missionaries—it was their farthest coast. For all it was an alien and difficult place to reach.

Campbell Macknight outlines the history of the exploration and settlement of the coast from the Gulf of Carpentaria west to the Kimberleys in his introduction. He suggest it is a geographical unit very different from the rest of Australia.

His selections from the writings of early visitors are exciting and interesting for their own sakes, and an invaluable guide to a region of growing economic and strategic importance.