A Commonwealth of Thieves
A Commonwealth of Thieves

Author: Thomas Keneally

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2007-12-04

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0307387577

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In this spirited history of the remarkable first four years of the convict settlement of Australia, Thomas Keneally offers us a human view of a fascinating piece of history. Combining the authority of a renowned historian with a brilliant narrative flair, Keneally gives us an inside view of this unprecedented experiment from the perspective of the new colony’s governor, Arthur Phillips. Using personal journals and documents, Keneally re-creates the hellish overseas voyage and the challenges Phillips faced upon arrival: unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, bewildered and hostile natives, food shortages, and disease. He also offers captivating portrayals of Aborigines and of convict settlers who were determined to begin their lives anew. A Commonwealth of Thieves immerses us in the fledgling penal colony and conjures up the thrills and hardships of those first four improbable years.

A Commonwealth of Thieves
A Commonwealth of Thieves

Author: Thomas Keneally

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2007-12-04

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 140007956X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this spirited history of the remarkable first four years of the convict settlement of Australia, Thomas Keneally offers us a human view of a fascinating piece of history. Combining the authority of a renowned historian with a brilliant narrative flair, Keneally gives us an inside view of this unprecedented experiment from the perspective of the new colony’s governor, Arthur Phillips. Using personal journals and documents, Keneally re-creates the hellish overseas voyage and the challenges Phillips faced upon arrival: unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, bewildered and hostile natives, food shortages, and disease. He also offers captivating portrayals of Aborigines and of convict settlers who were determined to begin their lives anew. A Commonwealth of Thieves immerses us in the fledgling penal colony and conjures up the thrills and hardships of those first four improbable years.

The Commonwealth of Thieves
The Commonwealth of Thieves

Author: Thomas Keneally

Publisher: Random House (Australia)

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13:

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Australia is the only modern society to have begun as a dedicated penal settlement. It was an experiment that should have ended like others of its kind in a stew of murder, rebellion and starvation. In this compelling, vivid and moving recreation of the first four years of 'the Sydney experiment', Tom Keneally examines how a motley 'thief colony' exiled by England as incapable of civilised development, not only survived, but flourished into a sophisticated modern society. History at its surprising and gripping best.

The Commonwealth of Thieves
The Commonwealth of Thieves

Author: Thomas Keneally

Publisher: Random House Australia

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 1741666139

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"A brilliant recreation of the first four years of white settlement in Australia by Booker Prize-winning author Tom Keneally. In 1787, Britain banished its unwanted citizens - uneducated petty thieves, streetwalkers, orphan chimneysweeps and dashing highwaymen - to the fringes of the known world. So remote was Botany Bay - the destination to which the overcrowded, disease-ridden convict ships were bound - that only one European expedition had ever before anchored there. Yet the rejects of Britain, accompanied only by a flimsy complement of soldiers, marines and officers, were expected to start a settlement and flourish. It was an audacious social experiment, unparalleled before or since. To the indigenous inhabitants, the white men came as ghosts through cracks in the cosmos, rudely seizing the bounty of land and sea. On the swampy shores of Botany Bay, and by the sandstone coves of Sydney Harbour, the clash of civilisations was ineviteable, intense and often tragic. From this improbable beginning, through famine, drought, escapes and floggings, the glory of modern Sydney was born. Britain's penal experiment succeeded against all odds. Impeccably researched and told in the i