TRAVEL AND TROUT IN THE ANTIPODES: AN ANGLER'S SKETCHES IN TASMANIA AND NEW ZEALAND. By William Senior ("Red Spinner").

(1880) 1994 new edition. 8vo (157 x 234mm). Ppv,xii,315. Line illustrations. Gilt-decorated bonded-leather binding. Issued without a dust-wrapper.

Volume XVII of the "new" Derrydale Press "Fly Fisherman's Gold" series. This is one of the earliest books on fishing in Australia and New Zealand, originally published simultaneously in London and Melbourne in 1880. Although the author was primarily interested in fishing, he makes many observations on the areas through which he travelled as well as the people he encountered, as well as recording something of the areas' histories. Part I - Tasmania, chapters include: Brisbane and Queensland; Coasting and capitals, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne; Fishing at Sydney and Melbourne, the Yarra Yarra, across Bass Strait, the Tamar, Launceston, Distillery Creek, Cora Linn; Caves and cattle; Coaching old style, the Tasmanian Royal Mail, roadside inns, Hobart; Hobart Town and harbour, Brown's River, the Derwent estuary, Port Arthur in decay; Over the mountains; First and second lessons; 'Send him to Australia'; The salmon ponds, the Lachlan, River Derwent, acclimatization of trout; Salmon trout in the Derwent, miscellaneous sport; In the Midlands, Ousebridge, the River Ouse, Bothwell, Melton Mowbray, the River Jordan, the lakes; summing up fishing in Tasmania. Part II - New Zealand, chapters include: West to East, Bay of Islands, Auckland Harbour; Round about Auckland; Bay of Plenty; Through the forest; Rotorua, Lake Tarawera, Rotomahana; Ceremonial and festive with the Maoris, Prussian carp, Gisborne, Hawke Bay and Napier, Cook Strait, Wellington Harbour; Wellington to Port Lyttleton, Akaroa, Christchurch on Avon, Canterbury Acclimatization Society, fish and fish licenses, angling on the Avon; River Cust, gamekeepers; Shag Valley and Dunedin, a stud farm for trout, Otago, Dunedin, Water of Leith, Port Chalmers; New Zealand fishes, Dunedin fish-shops, illegal possession, scientific work being undertaken, native salmon, frost fish, snapper, hapuku, barracuda, trevalli, king fish, butter fish, haddock, red cod, New Zealand sole, smooth hound shark, stinging ray, freshwater fishes; Trouting amongst the hills, Californian salmon, acclimatizers, trout fishing in various places, fly tying, the Cust, the Koorawa.