'Freedom on the Fatal Shore' brings together John Hirst's two books on the
early history of New South Wales ('Convict Society and its Enemies: A History of
Early New South Wales' and 'The Strange Birth of Colonial Democracy: New South
Wales 1848-1884'). Both are classic accounts which have had a profound effect on
the understanding of Australian history. This combined edition includes a new
foreword by the author.
Convicts with legal rights, convicts with their 'own time', convicts making
money, convicts getting drunk - what sort of prison was this? Hirst describes
how the convict colony actually worked and how Australian democracy came into
being, despite the opposition of the most powerful. He writes: 'This was not a
society that has to become free; its freedoms were well established from the
earliest times'.
Contents:
Foreword
Convict Society and its Enemies
Preface
1. The Enemies
2. Masters and Servants
- Making Convicts Servants
- Flogging and Work
- Good asters and Bad
3. Convicts and Society
- The Economy and Penal Principles
- The Law and Convicts' Rights
- Rebellion and Security
- Status and Politics
- Dependence and Self-Criticism
4. The Shame of Botany Bay
The Strange Birth of Colonial Democracy
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: A British Democracy
1. Tricking the British
2. Betrayed by the British
3. Making Britain Democratic
4. Desperately Loyal
Part 2: Democracy and Society
5. Landlords and Tenants
6. The Effects of Gold
7. Marks of Distinction
8. Bushmen and Bushrangers
Part 3. Fruits of Democracy
9. Attacking the Rich
10. Excluding the Chinese
11. Disgust
Part 4. Democracy and Authority
12. The Governing of Diggers
13. Police and Bushrangers
14. Local Authority
Epilogue: The Unwanted
Sources
Notes
Index
