This plate, dedicated to Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and surrounding islands, was published by the German publisher F.A. Brockhaus in 1863 and is the seventh plate in the Illustrirter Handatlas fur Freunde der Erdkunde und Zum Gebrauch Beim Unterricht (Illustrated atlas for geography enthusiasts and for use in education). The atlas contained 22 plates, with maps by Ehrenfried Leeder and illustrations by Heinrich Leutemann.
The most striking feature of these sheets is their format: they have a colour map in the central part, which is surrounded by several vignettes illustrating the fauna, vegetation, landscapes and inhabitants of the region depicted. On this sheet, the map covers the part of Oceania close to Australia and incorporates settlements, place names and known rivers. The interior of Australia appears virtually empty, reflecting the knowledge of this region in Europe in the mid-19th century.
Around the map, Leutemann drew twelve scenes covering much of the region's fauna, such as emus, koalas, wombats, black swans and kangaroos, some of the flora, such as Norfolk pines and subtropical vegetation, and scenes from the lives of Aboriginal peoples and Pacific Islanders.
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