Dangerous Passage (Alfred Press, 2024) is Ian Burnet’s seventh book, his fifth on the maritime history of Australia and Southeast Asia. Burnet’s previous six books explore various aspects of the history of European exploration and colonisation of the region, along with its cultures and geography: Spice Islands, East Indies, Archipelago, Where Australia Collides with Asia, The Tasman Map and Joseph Conrad’s Eastern Voyages.

Dangerous Passage is perhaps his most engaging yet. Combining his scholarly attention to detail, his matter-of-fact prose, and a nose for a good story, it moves at a pace. While serving up a rich history of the region, Burnet never allows that detail to slow the action. As Burnet warns us in his prologue:

‘Readers should be advised that this history will include stories of murder, mayhem, mutiny, disastrous shipwrecks, desperate voyages of survival in open boats, headhunting and hurricanes.’

Liberally illustrated with maps, artwork, and direct quotations from source material, the book gives us a first-hand look at the motives, trials, challenges, frustrations, tragedies and triumphs of those explorers and adventurers who traversed the Torres Strait over a four-hundred-year period.

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https://www.ianburnetbooks.com/blog