Phillip Parker King
Norfolk Island-born naval officer and explorer Phillip Parker King (1791 – 1856) surveyed the sections of Australia's coast that Matthew Flinders had not investigated between 1791 and 1810. King's four voyages (December 1817 to April 1822) focussed on northern waters between Arnhem Land and Northwest Cape.
While King's four voyages failed to discover the hoped-for river likely to lead to an interior navigation into this great continent, his two-volume Narrative Of A Survey Of The Intertropical And Western Coasts Of Australia contains detailed information about the topography, flora, fauna, resources and people of the areas he visited. He also provided the illustrations for the Narrative.
After a promotion to Commander, King returned to England in April 1823. He subsequently spent five years (1826–1830) commanding HMS Adventure on survey work around the Straits of Magellan and Patagonia.
King returned to New South Wales in 1832, served on the colony's Legislative Council, acted as resident commissioner of the Australian Agricultural Company and was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the member for the Counties of Gloucester and Macquarie in 1851. He died in North Sydney on 26 February 1856.
Sources:
Australian Dictionary of Biography
Phillip Parker King, On The Maritime Geography Of Australia
Phillip Parker King, Narrative Of A Survey Of The Intertropical And Western Coasts Of Australia Performed Between The Years 1818 And 1822
Wikipedia
