Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was appointed to succeed Oxley as Surveyor General of New South Wales in 1828. The first expedition described here was undertaken to establish the veracity of a story spread about the colony by escaped convict George Clarke, "The Barber", who claimed to have discovered a large river flowing to the north of Australia, known by the Aboriginal name of Kindur. This expedition investigated the Namoi, Gwydir and Barwon rivers, but failed to prove or disprove the existence of the Kindur.

Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was appointed to succeed Oxley as Surveyor General of New South Wales in 1828. The first expedition described here was undertaken to establish the veracity of a story spread about the colony by escaped convict George Clarke, "The Barber", who claimed to have discovered a large river flowing to the north of Australia, known by the Aboriginal name of Kindur. This expedition investigated the Namoi, Gwydir and Barwon rivers, but failed to prove or disprove the existence of the Kindur.

The second and third expeditions were both aimed at fully determining the course of the Darling River, extending on Sturt's earlier discoveries. Despite meeting hostilities with local Aboriginal tribes resulting in a retreat to Sydney, and dismissing Burke's specific instructions regarding the Darling, Mitchell went on to make a discovery of the greatest importance: the rich lands of western Victoria, which he named Australia Felix in 1836.

As well as being a fine surveyor, Mitchell was an accomplished draughtsman, and the plates in the book are all after his own drawings.

This is the second edition, revised and extended from the first publication the previous year. Despite the huge European interest in Australian exploration, reflected in the number of titles published in London mid-century, only Mitchell's and Sturt's journals would run into second editions.