An unusual Italian map of Australia

A rare map of Australia, one of the few to be published illustrating Captain James Vetch's scheme for dividing up Australia into provinces. Vetch (1789-1869) had a career as an engineer in the army (serving in the siege of Badajos in 1812, during the Peninsula War) before retiring on half-pay and becoming a civil engineer. He worked in the burgeoning railway industry as well as sewerage and drainage projects. He wrote 'Considerations on the Political Geography and Geographical Nomenclature of Australia' in 1838. The names he proposed, translated into Italian, are shown here, all arrayed around the coast, with the interior marked 'Terra Incognita': Dampieria, Victoria, Tasmania (in the Northern Territory, not the island), Nuytsland, Carpentaria, Flindersland, Torresia, Cooksland, Guelphia (now New South Wales, not shown here as there was a separate map, showing it with New Zealand).