Conrad Martens : journal of a voyage from England to Australia aboard HMS Beagle and HMS Hyacinth 1833-35

Conrad Martens (1801-78) is widely regarded as Australia's foremost watercolourist of the colonial period, having produced a large body of work whilst resident in New South Wales between 1835-78. His journal of a voyage from England to Australia during 1833-35 aboard HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin and HMS Hyacinth was for a long period catalogued as an `Anonymous Journal of a Voyage on board H.M.S. Hyacinth' in the collection of the Mitchell Library, Sydney (ML A429). However in 1993 it was identified as by Conrad Martens. This was a significant find as it also contained an account of Martens' time aboard His Majesty's sloop Beagle between 1833-4, forming an especially interesting addition to the archive of extant Beagle-related material which includes the diaries, journals, letters and published accounts of individuals such as Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, along with the pictorial record of Martens, Augustus Earle and other amateur artists.