The Dream of British Civilization in Australia In 1838, the fledgling settlement of Port Phillip (later Melbourne) was gripped by […]
Introduction: A Land of Contradictions By 1840, the European settlers of the Port Phillip District—later known as Victoria—saw themselves as […]
A Governor’s Divine Mission Between 1838 and 1842, South Australia stood at a crossroads. Would it become a colony shaped […]
Introduction: The Search for a New Colonial Model By 1835, two methods of establishing European civilization in Australia had proven […]
A Vision of Prosperity in the Wilderness In 1829, Captain James Stirling achieved what many deemed impossible: he convinced the […]
A Land That Defied Expectations When Dutch sailors first sighted the western coast of Australia in the 17th century, they […]
The Shadows of London: A Young Dickens Observes Parliament Night after night in the early 1830s, a young Charles Dickens […]
A Puritan in a Penal Colony In 1831, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur presided over Van Diemen’s Land (modern-day Tasmania) with an […]
A Colony Divided: Religion and Politics in 1830s New South Wales The year 1835 found New South Wales at a […]
A Colony at the Crossroads In October 1831, two of New South Wales’ most prominent figures – the fiery native-born […]
A Farmer’s Nostalgia in an Alien Land In 1828, a Devonshire farmer who had migrated to New South Wales years […]
The Call to Govern a Distant Colony In early 1824, James Stephen, a prominent British abolitionist and colonial administrator, delivered […]
The Political Landscape of New South Wales in the Late 1820s In December 1827, John Macarthur, a key figure in […]
The Arrival of a Military Governor On the morning of 20 December 1825, a grand procession made its way to […]
The Contradictory Origins of a Colonial Titan William Charles Wentworth’s arrival in Sydney in July 1824 marked the return of […]
The Making of Two Colonial Titans In August 1822, Reverend Samuel Marsden—principal chaplain of New South Wales—sat in his Parramatta […]
A Society in Moral Crisis The decade between 1820 and 1830 in Britain was marked by profound social decay, economic […]
The Rise and Challenges of Governor Macquarie When Lachlan Macquarie arrived in London in July 1822, he was a man […]
The Rise and Fall of a Governor’s Dream When Commissioner John Thomas Bigge arrived in New South Wales in 1819, […]
The Making of a Colonial Reformer Lachlan Macquarie’s appointment as Governor of New South Wales in 1810 marked a turning […]
The Foundations of a Penal Colony When Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788, he established the […]
The Arrival of a Controversial Governor On 8 August 1806, Sydney Cove erupted in celebration as William Bligh, the newly […]
