In 1829 at the Supreme Court in Sydney, the bewitching Jane New was sentenced
to death. Her crime: shoplifting a bolt of printed French silk. But was she
guilty? Many had their doubts.
Although Jane's sentence was soon squashed through a legal technicality, the
autocratic Governor Ralph Darling refused to set her free. Like bees to a honey
pot, the gentlemen of Sydney swarmed to her defence. Barrister and political
agitator William Charles Wentworth and Supreme Court Registrar John Stephen Jnr
were particularly vigorous and manipulative in their appeals to liberate her.
'An Irresistible Temptation' is set against the backdrop of a particularly
devisive period in colonial New South Wales. Not only did the scandal titillate
Sydney, its legal and political ramifications pushed the colony to the brink of
constitutional crisis and it contributed to the savagery of Governor Darling's
public vilification, bestowing upon Jane New a place in the annals of Australian
colonial history.
Compelling and fast-paced, 'An Irresistible Temptation' is a meticulously
researched history that takes us from the court docks of industrialising
England, to Tasmania's raw penal settlement, the rough-house world of Sydney's
Rocks area and eventually back to the rarefield atmosphere of Britain's House of
Commons.
Contents:
Author's Note
Acknowledgements
Cast of Characters
Prologue
1. Temptation
2. Pretension
3. Infatuation
4. Gratification
5. Indignation
6. Persecution
7. Retribution
Epilogue
Endnotes
Sources
Bibliography
Index
