Convicts, transporation etc

Port Arthur – The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth – Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement.

A hard to find Tasmanian production. Published by the Tasmanian Historical Research Association in 1981.

Slightly larger octavo, 298 pages, illustrated and a super fine copy

Booth kept his almost daily diary for 23 years so there is so much about Port Arthur to make it the fundamental record of the goings on in the penal establishment.

Real diary makes for interesting reading

$60.00

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Van Diemen’s Land [History of Tasmania to 1838] – James Boyce

A new edition of James Boyce’s super book on Tasmania. Published in 2018, with a Forward by Richard Flanagan.

Octavo, 388 pages, with maps, plates, notes and references. very good condition. The winner of a number of prestigious awards.

Van Diemen’s Land a Colony formed out of transportation of convicts. How they survived and settled and adapted to the land. Conflicts with establishment and bushrangers. The fate of the aboriginal community.

James Boyce’s thoughtful perspective of the early years and the impact of colonialism

$40.00

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Joseph Mason – assigned Convict 1831-1837 – Edited by Kent and Townsend.

Published by the Melbourne University Press, a fine copy of the first edition 1996. Octavo, 182 pages with end paper maps. Gift inscription on half title otherwise clean as a whistle.

Joseph Mason was transported to New South Wales, one of many who protested against the mechanisation of agriculture … threshing machines.

The large part of this book is his Memoir of goings on a wonderful insight into the Colony … referencing encounters with aboriginal people and good descriptions of convict “assignments” around Sydney, Parramatta and Campbelltown and explorations along the Nepean River.

Good introductory chapters with contributions from David Kent as well as the industrious editors.

One of the more thorough and thoughtful convict accounts

$20.00

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The Port Arthur Coal Mines [Tasmania] 1833-1877 – Ian Brand

A first edition, soft cover of this enlightening Industrial Local History about the convict worked coal mines on the Tasman Peninsula.

Perfect bound, octavo size, ninety pages nicely illustrated. Published by Regal Press, Launceston, no date but generally agreed c1995. A super as new copy.

A great history from the discovery of coal in the 1830’s and the initial years of working with convict labour before their eventual passing to private hands in 1848 and closure in 1877.

Interesting Industrial History – Coal in Tasmania

$30.00

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Ross Bridge Tasmania – Studies in Historical Archaeology – Maureen Byrne

Maureen Byrne was a professional archaeologist which makes this “local history” rather more honed and full of well researched fact.

Anyone who loves Tasmania either as a local or a visitor cannot help fall in love with the town of Ross and its magnificent convict built bridge.

Published in 1969 by the Australian Society of Historical Archaeology in conjunction with the Ross Council and its then appointed Bridge Restoration Committee .. now there’s a worthwhile cause.

Squarish perfect bound card covered, 51 pages with folding plans at rear. Extensively illustrated from photographs taken by the author. A very good copy.

The bridge was to undergo restoration with the removal of badly laid thick tarmacadam … this was the chance to call in the expert Byrne. A special record was made … the best part being something that could have received better treatment earlier .. 186 carvings, 31 over the top of each arch. Among the carvings along with those involved in the creation of the bridge we have … Jorgen Jorgensen the Danish adventurer then part of life in Van Diemens Land; Governor George Arthur resplendent in his top hat; John Headlam a hated school master in his mortar board; William Kermode a local grazier .. along with horned goods and wild beasts.

Comparison with Italian bridge architecture add interest.

The Ross Bridge rivals European Bridge Architecture with its numerous carvings.

$50.00

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The Canary Jacket – Ann Shead – First Edition 1968

First edition published by Collins, London and Sydney in 1968. A “novel of early Australia” by the distinguished author.

Octavo, 256 pages, a very good copy in a complete and clean dust jacket.

Australian author Ann Shead came from Cornish stock. This story start in Cornwall and smuggling which leads to transportation to New South Wales. The realities of life downunder for convicts bound out to serve a Master are to the fore of the narrative. Things do improve and the book ends pleasantly high and rewarding.

Convicts doing it tough but seeing it through in the end … the lucky ones in the Lucky Country.

$30.00

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Port Arthur – The Journal of Charles O’Hara Booth – Commandant of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement.

Van Diemen’s Land [History of Tasmania to 1838] – James Boyce

Joseph Mason – assigned Convict 1831-1837 – Edited by Kent and Townsend.

The Port Arthur Coal Mines [Tasmania] 1833-1877 – Ian Brand

Ross Bridge Tasmania – Studies in Historical Archaeology – Maureen Byrne

The Canary Jacket – Ann Shead – First Edition 1968

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