Did you know that Melbourne’s mother island was not Britain but the notorious penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land? And that Melbourne was founded by unauthorised boat arrivals (or to use the contemporary term, ‘illegals’) who were breaking British law? Or that in 1835 the first tents were pitched roughly where the Immigration Museum now stands?
In 1835 an illegal squatter camp was established on the banks of the Yarra River. In defiance of authorities in London and Sydney, Tasmanian speculators began sending men and sheep across Bass Strait - and so changed the shape of Australian history. In three years more land - and more people - were conquered than in the preceeding fifty.
In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sydney and London, the key personalities of Melbourne’s early days, and the haunting questions raised by what happened when the land was opened up. He conjures up the Australian frontier – its complexity, its rawness and the way its legacy is still with us today. And he asks the poignant questions largely ignored for 175 years: could it have been different?
Contents:
Map of pastoral settlemt of Australia
Map of pastoral settlement of Victoria
Preface
Part 1. Setting the Scene
1. The Yarra 1835
2. Bass Straight
3. Van Diemen's Land 1835
4. Sydny 1835
5. London 1835
Part 2. Setting Sail
6. The Port Phillip Association
7. The Treaty
8. First Settlement
Part 3. Melbourne's First Year
9. A Highly Successful Camp
10. Camping in Kulin Country
11. Early Conflict
Part 4. Decision Time
12. The Colonies Respond
13. The Empire Decides
Part 5. The Aftermath
14. Explosive Growth
15. Conquest Confirmed
16. Melbourne's Cross-cultured Encounter
Part 6. Understanding Conquest
17. Frontier Truths
18. What If?
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Index
Reviews:
This book is an important contribution to the understanding of our history and has relevance to contemporary Australia. ‘Could there be a connection between the ingrained assumption that the squatter conquest of Australia could not have been slowed down and regulated, and the national difficulty in imagining that governments might do the same to coalminers today.’
Mark Rubbo is Managing Director of Readings.
