Settlers and Convicts. Settlers and Convicts. Settlers and Convicts: Or, Recollections of Sixteen Years’ Labour in the Australian Backwoods
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Settlers and Convicts: Or, Recollections of Sixteen Years’ Labour in the Australian Backwoods

by Alexander Harris

ISBN: 9780522839449 / 0522839444
Publisher: Melbourne Univ Pr , 1996
Edition: Softcover
Language: English

About the book

Mystery surrounds the true identity of the author of this account of New South Wales in the 1820s and 1830s, but many believe it was Alexander Harris. The author had come to Sydney saying it ‘was in the hope of bettering my condition’, and he went on to observe colonial society and its doings with a keen eye and an expressive pen.
A sense of freshness, adventure and wonder at the unknown in a strange new land is apparent on every page. He is awed by the splendours of the ancient Australian cedar forests of the south coast of New South Wales. He describes the brutality, frequency and injustice of the floggings which were still part of the convict system. He decries the corruption and tyranny of the magistrates and police. He is impressed by the warmth and