A Commonwealth of ThievesIn this spirited history of the remarkable first four years of the convict settlement of Australia, Thomas Keneally offers us a human view of a fascinating piece of history. Combining the authority of a renowned historian with a brilliant narrative flair, Keneally gives us an inside view of this unprecedented experiment from the perspective of the new colony’s governor, Arthur Phillips. Using personal journals and documents, Keneally re-creates the hellish overseas voyage and the challenges Phillips faced upon arrival: unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, bewildered and hostile natives, food shortages, and disease. He also offers captivating portrayals of Aborigines and of convict settlers who were determined to begin their lives anew. A Commonwealth of Thieves immerses us in the fledgling penal colony and conjures up the thrills and hardships of those first four improbable years. |
From inside the book
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Page
... Young Republic Homebush Boy : A Memoir The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English- Speaking World American Scoundrel : The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles Lincoln For Children Ned Kelly and the City ...
... Young Republic Homebush Boy : A Memoir The Great Shame and the Triumph of the Irish in the English- Speaking World American Scoundrel : The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles Lincoln For Children Ned Kelly and the City ...
Page 8
... young , ' or " a poor unfortunate girl " —or else of sometimes gratuitous outrage . Some of the women prisoners and many of the males on the great Southern Ocean fleet owed their presence on the prison decks to their youth or good looks ...
... young , ' or " a poor unfortunate girl " —or else of sometimes gratuitous outrage . Some of the women prisoners and many of the males on the great Southern Ocean fleet owed their presence on the prison decks to their youth or good looks ...
Page 16
... young Banks became so famous from his Botany Bay discoveries of new species that Linnaeus , the famous Swedish scientist , suggested that if New South Wales were proven to be part of a continent , the continent should be called Banksia ...
... young Banks became so famous from his Botany Bay discoveries of new species that Linnaeus , the famous Swedish scientist , suggested that if New South Wales were proven to be part of a continent , the continent should be called Banksia ...
Page 17
... young political philosopher with ideas about prisons who was then in St. Petersburg in Russia , visiting his brother , who had a contract building ships for Cather- ine the Great . Bentham was developing a plan for a panopticon peniten ...
... young political philosopher with ideas about prisons who was then in St. Petersburg in Russia , visiting his brother , who had a contract building ships for Cather- ine the Great . Bentham was developing a plan for a panopticon peniten ...
Page 20
... Young Arthur's presence indicated that either Jacob Phillip gave up his language teaching to be- come a seaman and died as a British tar , or - far more likely that Arthur was presented to the school as the child of the Englishman ...
... Young Arthur's presence indicated that either Jacob Phillip gave up his language teaching to be- come a seaman and died as a British tar , or - far more likely that Arthur was presented to the school as the child of the Englishman ...
Contents
Section 16 | 218 |
Section 17 | 230 |
Section 18 | 245 |
Section 19 | 257 |
Section 20 | 270 |
Section 21 | 279 |
Section 22 | 289 |
Section 23 | 295 |
Section 9 | 135 |
Section 10 | 161 |
Section 11 | 171 |
Section 12 | 186 |
Section 13 | 190 |
Section 14 | 197 |
Section 15 | 204 |
Section 24 | 305 |
Section 25 | 320 |
Section 26 | 339 |
Section 27 | 363 |
Section 28 | 369 |
Other editions - View all
A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia Thomas Keneally No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard Aboriginal alphabetical listing amongst Arabanoo arrived Arthur Phillip ashore Australia Barangaroo Bateson Bennelong boat Botany Bay Bowes Smyth British brought Bryant Cape Town Captain clothing coast Colby colony convict women Cook crew David Collins death England Eora European Evan Nepean fish Flynn Gorgon Government House governor harbour head honour hulks Irish John Johnson journey Kable King Lady Juliana Lady Penrhyn land Lieutenant London Lord Sydney Macarthur Major Ross male convicts marines Mary McEntire Nagle named natives Nepean Neptune Newgate Nicol Norfolk Island officers Parramatta Parramatta River party Pemulwuy penal Pérouse Philip Gidley King Phillip in Hunter Port Jackson Portsmouth pounds prison deck punishment Ralph Clark rations River sail sailors Second Fleet sent sentenced settlement ships Sirius soldiers South Wales Corps spear Supply Surgeon White Sydney Cove told transportation victs voyage Watkin Tench Wentworth wife woman wound wrote young