Australians: Origins to EurekaThe first volume of a unique history of Australia where people are always centre stage, from bestselling author Thomas Keneally who brings to life the vast range of characters who have formed our national story. In this volume of a unique history of Australia where people are always centre stage, bestselling author Thomas Keneally brings to life the vast range of characters who have formed our national story. Convicts and Aborigines, settlers and soldiers, patriots and reformers, bushrangers and gold seekers, it is from their lives and their stories that he has woven a vibrant history to do full justice to the rich and colourful nature of our unique national character. The story begins by looking at European occupation through Aboriginal eyes as we move between the city slums and rural hovels of eighteenth century Britain and the shores of Port Jackson. We spend time on the low-roofed convict decks of transports, and we see the bewilderment of the Eora people as they see the first ships of turaga, or 'ghost people'. We follow the daily round of Bennelong and his wife Barangaroo, and the tribulations of warrior Windradyne. Convicts like Solomon Wiseman and John Wilson find their feet and even fortune, while Henry Parkes' arrival as a penniless immigrant gives few clues to the national statesman he was to become. We follow the treks of the Chinese diggers - the Celestials - to the goldfields, and revolutionaries like Italian Raffaello Carboni and black American John Joseph bring us the drama of the Eureka uprising. Were the first European mothers whores or matriarchs? Was the first generation of Australian children the luckiest or unluckiest on the planet? How did this often cruel and brutal penal experiment lead to a coherent civil society? To answer these and many more questions Thomas Keneally has brought to life the high and the low, the convict and the free of early Australian society. This is truly a new history of Australia, by an author of outstanding literary skill and experience, and whose own humanity permeates every page. |
Contents
Chapter 21 | 425 |
Chapter 22 | 430 |
Chapter 23 | 443 |
Chapter 24 | 449 |
Chapter 25 | 460 |
Chapter 26 | 471 |
Chapter 27 | 476 |
Chapter 28 | 491 |
Chapter 9 | 212 |
Chapter 10 | 236 |
Chapter 11 | 244 |
Chapter 12 | 260 |
Chapter 13 | 284 |
Chapter 14 | 321 |
Chapter 15 | 333 |
Chapter 16 | 344 |
Chapter 17 | 362 |
Chapter 18 | 373 |
Chapter 19 | 399 |
Chapter 20 | 415 |
Chapter 29 | 502 |
Chapter 30 | 515 |
Chapter 31 | 520 |
Chapter 32 | 532 |
Chapter 33 | 540 |
Chapter 34 | 549 |
Timeline to 1860 | 558 |
Notes | 573 |
Index | 606 |
Back flap | 629 |
Back cover | 630 |
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Common terms and phrases
aboard Aboriginal amongst Arabanoo arrived Arthur Phillip ashore Australia Ballarat Banks Barangaroo Bennelong Bligh boat Botany Bay Britain British camp Cape Captain Carboni Chinese coast Colby Collins Commissioner convicts Cook D’Arcy death deck Deniehy Diemen's Land diggers emancipists emigrants England English Colony Eora Eureka European father George Gipps gold goldfields Government House Governor harbour Henry Hill honour hulks Hunter immigrants Irish James John John Macarthur Journal kilometres King labour Lady Juliana later Lieutenant lived London Lord Macarthur Macquarie magistrate marines Mary Melbourne Moreton Bay named natives Newgate Norfolk Island officers Parramatta party Pemulwuy police Port Jackson Port Phillip prisoners punishment River sailed sailors sent sentence settlement settlers ship soldiers South Wales Corps spear squatters stockade Surgeon Sydney Cove Tench told took town transportation Van Diemen's Land Victoria voyage Wentworth wife William woman women wrote young