Ian Burnet’s first book Spice Islands tells the history, romance and adventure of the spice trade over 2000 years and has been described as ‘A triumph of passion and scholarship’.
His second book East Indies tells the story of the 200 year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East Indies Company and the English East India Company for supremacy in the Eastern Seas and has been described as ‘A ripping historical yarn’.
In Archipelago, Ian Burnet takes the reader on a journey across the Indonesian Archipelago, island by island and adventure by adventure. Travelling from Java to Timor by bus, plane, train, ferry, boat, car and motorcycle he follows the smoking volcanoes that form its spine. Ian combines his love of adventure and travel with his knowledge of history to take us on a personal journey through both geographic space and historical time.
His fourth book is Where Australia Collides with Asia – The Epic Voyages of Joseph Banks, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace and the Origin of On the Origin of Species. A Review reads “What Ian Burnet has achieved in his wonderfully illustrated and narrated book is to relate the important role the Indonesian archipelago has played in the intellectual history of the west”.
His fifth book is The Tasman Map which tells the story of Abel Tasman, the Dutch East India Company and the first Dutch discoveries of Australia.
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.
Follow this link to watch an interview with Ian Burnet:
spiceislandsblog 
Hi, we are researching a missing aircraft from ww2, it had 40 people onboard, mostly POW’s returning to Australia after the war with Japan. it went missing in the Pulau Damar and surround area. I see you have travelled this region and was hoping you may be able to help us contact someone from the area who could assist with local knowledge etc – many thanks – Peter
Hello Peter. My apologies but I only just found your message. I have been to Damar but only just touched there in a boat for a few hours so am unable to help. If possible you would need to contact someone in the local government there. There is a gold mine on the nearby island of Wetar and I think that Billiton is associated with BHP so they may be able to help.
GOLD MINE IN WETAR ISLAND COMES STARTS FULL OPERATION The gold mine in the island of Wetar has started full operation with a production capacity of 2 tons of gold/year, beginning this month. The gold mine is managed by PT Prima Lirang Mining – a joint venture with Billiton International Metals, involving an investment of US$ 40 million. Besides gold, the company will produce 65 tons of silver, 10 tons of mercury and 100,000 tons of barite oer year.