Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS Fly : During the Years 1842–1846

The geologist Joseph Beete Jukes (1811–1869) participated in a British surveying expedition to Australia and New Guinea from 1842 to 1846. This two-volume work, published in 1847, describes his observations and experiences. Volume 1 covers the Barrier Reef, the Torres Strait and the Sunda Islands.

Joseph Beete Jukes (1811–1869) was a geologist who studied at St John's College, Cambridge under Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) and, after many field expeditions in England, was appointed to a survey of Newfoundland in 1839. In 1841 he joined the H.M.S. Fly as a naturalist for an upcoming expedition to chart the coasts of Australia and New Guinea. He also made some inland investigations on Java before returning to England in 1846. The following year he published this two-volume account of his journey. Blackwood's Magazine described Jukes' work as 'scientific without being abstruse, and picturesque without being extravagant, [Jukes] has made his volumes a striking and graceful addition to our knowledge of countries highly interesting in themselves'. Volume 1 describes Jukes' voyage up the coast of North Queensland, his observations of the Barrier Reef, his exploration of the Torres Strait, and his arrival in the Sunda Islands.