The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding
by Robert Hughes
Book Summary Information
Author: Robert HughesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1988-02-12
ISBN: 0394753666
Number of pages: 628
Publisher: Vintage Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780394753669
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding
Book Review: `To ask what Australia would have been like without convicts is existentially meaningless.'
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is about the causes and consequences of the transportation of British convicts to Australia. This is part of the history of Australia: the beginning of a British colony founded by deported criminals thousands of miles and many months from Britain. Transportation began in 1787 (the First Fleet landed in January 1788) and ended in 1868. During this period some 160,000 convicts were exiled to this prison-colony.
Not an auspicious start for the nation now known as Australia, and most certainly not an auspicious occurrence for Australia's indigenous peoples. Mr Hughes looks at what drove the British decision to deport convicts and the choice of Australia as the destination. He recounts the difficult days of early settlement, the problems of maintaining a prison so far from Britain, and the politics involved.
Many Australians, me included, have limited knowledge of this aspect of our country's history. For many of us, Australian history was only sketchily taught at school and tended to focus on events after the publicised discovery of gold in 1851 or from Australia's formal nationhood as the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. I grew up in Tasmania, where the convict past was both too big to ignore and too painful to consider. Convict ancestry was not acknowledged then, although this may be changing. Australia's population is now over 22 million people according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The transportation era no longer defines our nation, but it is a very important shaping influence.
This book has sat on my bookcase for 20 years. I have previously read chapters but only recently have read the entire book from beginning to end. Now, of course, I wonder why I didn't read it sooner. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in Australian history and 18th century social history and politics. One suggestion: be patient as you read. The structure of this book has its own logic, and it is not always chronological. The notes and the bibliography provided by Mr Hughes provide a wealth of information for those interested in delving further into Australia's history.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Summary of The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding
The history of the birth of Australia which came out of the suffereing and brutality of England's infamous convict transportation system. With 16 pages of illustrations and 3 maps.An extraordinary volume--even a masterpiece--about the early history of Australia that reads like the finest of novels. Hughes captures everything in this complex tableau with narrative finesse that drives the reader ever-deeper into specific facts and greater understanding. He presents compassionate understanding of the plights of colonists--both freemen and convicts--and the Aboriginal peoples they displaced. One of the very best works of history I have ever read.
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