Guide to the Journal of Edward Robarts (as filmed by the AJCP), 1824

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Summary

Collection number:

M400

Creator:

Robarts, Edward (Marquesas Islands)

Extent:

1 item

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The memoir of Edward Robarts was written between 1811 and 1824. It covers his extensive travels in the preceding decades including: Cape Horn, Chile, the Galapagos Islands, Marquesan Islands (where he resided for several years), Tahiti, the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, Penang and Calcutta. The memoirs provide detail about the Marquesas Islands, including a vocabulary of language, and his life during this time, with information about his Marquesan wife and family. His life before and after leaving the islands is detailed, covering the many difficulties he experienced.

Biographical / Historical:

Edward Robarts (b. c.1770) was born in Barmouth, Wales. He became a seaman and as a young man took part in the slave trade between Africa and Jamaica and Santa Domingo. He also sailed to Rio de Janeiro and Saint Petersburg. In 1797 in London he joined the crew of the New Euphrates as a cook and steward and, as far as is known, he never returned to England again. Deserting the ship in the Marquesas Islands, he became one of the earliest beachcombers and one of the first Europeans to write about the people, language and culture of the islands. Robarts married a Marquesan, Enaoata, and remained in the islands until 1806. He and his family then lived an itinerant life, travelling to Tahiti, New Zealand, Fiji and Penang, before settling in Calcutta in 1810. In Penang he was connected with Thomas Stamford Raffles and in Calcutta he initially found a patron in John Lyeden. However, in the years that followed he was only able to obtain temporary employment and witnessed the deaths of two wives and six of his seven children.

Robarts completed his memoir and Marquesan vocabulary in 1824. Almost nothing is known of his later life. From 1822 to 1831 his name appears in the East India Register as a police constable. He possibly died in 1832, but there is no definite information.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.