Almost half of the convicts who came to Australia came to Van Diemen's Land.
There they found a land of bounty and a penal society, a kangaroo economy and a
new way of life.
This is a book filled with new facts and new ideas about one of the most
dramatic episodes in British colonialism. It tells of changing relations between
bushrangers and lieutenant governor, convicts and Aborigines, and of the growth
of a unique society. The author shows how the convicts were changed by the
natural worlds they encountered. Escaping authority, they soon settled away from
the towns, dressing in kangaroo-skin and living off the land. Behind the
official attempt to create a Little England was another story of adaptation, in
which the poor, the exiled and the criminal made a new home in a strange land.
This is their story, the story of Van Diemen's Land.
Contents:
Map of Van Diemen's Land
Map of Tasmania in the 1850s
Map of tribal boundaries of the Tasmanian Aborigines
Introduction
Part 1: The Early Years 1803-07
- Van Diemonian Sea-Wolves
- The Settlement of the Derwent
- How Shall we Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land?
- A Kangaroo Economy
Part 2: The Making of Van Diemen's Land 1808-23
- Access Without Conquest
- The Lieutenant Governor of the Woods
- Cross-Cultural Encounters
- The "Savage Life" of the Can Diemonians
- Food, Clothing and Shelter
- Wine, Women and Song
Part 3: Van Diemen's Land Conquered 1824-38
- The Coming of Little England
- Controlling the Convicts
- Imposing Dependence
- Fighting the Aborigines
Part 4: Van Diemen's Land or Tasmania? 1839-56
- The Triumph of Little England
- The Survival of Van Diemen's Land
- The End of Transportation
- Victoria's Van Diemonian Foundation
Appendix: Towards Genocide, Government Policy on the Aborigines 1827-38
- Partition or Exile?
- The Removal of the Aborigines in a Time of War
- The Removal of the Aborigines in a Time of Peace
- Postscript: The Final Conquest
Chief Executives of Van Diemen's Land 1803-61
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Index
