The subtitle, 'The Biography of a Map', is a very apt description of the way the story of the construction of the Tasman Map is presented. The Tasman Map is a compilation of sixteen separate discoveries in the Australia-East Indies region beginning with the Portuguese in the 16th century. Each of the cartographic steps is presented with detailed accounts of the people involved including their personal lives, and their roles in the process that brought traders from Europe to the East Indies. This is the 'biography' of the map and it gives the book extra substance and makes for a rich reading experience. Ian Burnet has presented a detailed and authoritive account of the construction of the Tasman Map and its subsequent history. But he goes a lot further than that. The depth of social and political history contained here is impressive in the way it provides insight into the contemporary conditions and the people involved. I have enjoyed reading it and learnt a great deal.

- Brian Finlayson, School of Geography, University of Melbourne. Ian Burnet in this stunning volume brings alive the many voyages of discovery that linked the exploration and Dutch conquest of Indonesia to a growing awareness on the part of the Dutch of the great, but as yet unknown, land to the south. Burnet, chapter by chapter with stunning illustrations and reproductions of early maps, has managed to document the many voyages from Europe to the "far east". Most of us will have heard of parts of Burnet's story, whether it is of figures such as Francis Drake, Dirk Hartog or Abel Tasman, or of place names which reflect historical moments in our history, such as the Gulf of Carpentaria, Arnhem Land, Groote Eylandt, Rottnest Island, or Maatsuyker Island. But other parts of his story will be new to many. This is a book to savour and to learn from and which will serve as a reference to many a historical event of relevance to both Indonesia and Australia.- Dr. Ron Witton, Inside Indonesia.

Ian Burnet tells the story of how our variously named island continent - Terra Australis Incognita, Java Le Grande, t'Zuyd Landt, Hollandia Nova - took its physical cartographic outline: from early, wildly speculative shapes unrelated to its actual dimensions, to the recognisable form of the Tasman Map in the State Library's vestibule floor.Every contributing line of accurate, non-speculative cartography, and the 16 separate voyages on which they were made, were the work of Holland's United East India Company (VOC) navigators in the extraordinary short period of 38 years from 1606 to 1644. - Jeffrey Mellefont, Signals Magazine.