Van Diemen’s Land
By James Boyce
4/5
()
About this ebook
Winner of the 2008 Colin Roderick Award
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.
In this book, James Boyce shows how the convicts were changed by the natural world 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.
Shortlisted in the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the 2010 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, the 2008 Age Book of the Year Awards, the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, the 2008 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the 2008 NSW Premier's History Awards and the 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards
‘A brilliant book and a must-read for anyone interested in how land shapes people.’ —Tim Flannery
‘The most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore. In re-imagining Australia's past, it invents a new future.’ —Richard Flanagan
‘Like the best history, Van Diemen's Land is not an artfully constructed narrative with the (inevitably inadequate) evidence banished to endnotes, but a dialogue between historian and reader as they explore the fragile sources, and the silences, together.’ —Inga Clendinnen
‘The publication of Van Diemen's Land signals an entirely fresh approach to Australian history-writing … This is a brilliant publication.’ —Alan Atkinson
‘A fresh and sparkling account.’ —Henry Reynolds
James Boyce is the multiple award-winning author of Born Bad, 1835 and Van Diemen’s Land. He has a PhD from the University of Tasmania, where he is an honorary research associate of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies.
James Boyce
James Boyce is the author of Born Bad (2014), 1835 (2011) and Van Diemen's Land (2008). Van Diemen’s Land, won the Tasmania Book Prize and the Colin Roderick Award and was shortlisted for the NSW, Victorian and Queensland premiers’ literary awards, as well as the Prime Minister’s award. Tim Flannery described it as “a brilliant book and a must-read for anyone interested in how land shapes people.” 1835, won the Age Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award, the Western Australian Premier's Book Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Literature and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award. The Sunday Age described it as “A first-class piece of historical writing”. James Boyce wrote the Tasmania chapter for First Australians, the companion book to the acclaimed SBS TV series. He has a PhD from the University of Tasmania, where he is an honorary research associate of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies.
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Reviews for Van Diemen’s Land
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This should be required reading for every Tasmanian, if not every Australian. It shatters many myths about early convict life and paints a vivid picture of the early years of the Tasmanian colony. What will really stay with me is the genocide of the Tasmanian aborignes, they definitely didn't teach us about this in school history. It's so important that all Australians know the truth about their story. I can't recall so much as a memorial to the Tasmanian aborigines, what an absolute disgrace.
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