The Commonwealth Of Thieves: The Story Of The Founding Of Australia

Product Description

' The Sydney Experiment' was the political experiment of founding Sydney as a penal settlement to receive criminals. In late-18th-century Britain, people were hanged for petty offences, yet crime was rife. The gaols were bursting & over-flow prisoners were kept in notorious 'hulks', rotting old ships moored offshore. Out of this situation was born the 'solution': criminals perceived to 'damage' British society would be transported. Australia was surrounded by sea & a very long way away: thus Sydney was founded as 'an open-air prison' with 'walls 14, 000 miles thick'.

Thus, too, was Australia colonised. There had been no reconnaissance (Captain Cook had landed just the once) & British politicians were utterly ignorant about the undespoiled continent to which they despatched a convoy of 11 ships in 1787 (the First Fleet).

The transports spent 8 hellish months at sea. Tom Keneally tells the fascinating story of Captain Arthur Phillip, the Commodore of the First Fleet, who was empowered to govern the new colony, & who then became the friend of Bennelong, one of the native aboriginal tribespeople who found themselves desperately interacting with the convicts, sailors, marines & officers suddenly dumped on their shores.

There were orgies, diseases, court marshalls, hangings, escapes, hunger.. . Governor Arthur Phillip, who was in effect the despotic ruler of New South Wales, imposed order.. . & eventually the 'open-air prison' was to develop into one of the most vibrant cities in the world.