The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding

A massive telling of the history of the British colonization of the islands of Australia, Norfork Island and Van Diemen's land (now known as Tasmania) from the 1780's through the 1860's.The subtitle says: the Epic of Australia's Founding' and boy, does it deliver. The records that Mr. Hughes utilized - letters from those sent there as convicts as well as voluntarily residents, reports to government ministers, memoirs of survivors - are only some of the sources.England didn't want to build prisons and they could no longer 'dump' the criminal element onto the American colonies so their criminals would be transported to Australia. To serve their sentences providing hard manual labor in an attempt to drive the criminal element out of them as well as provide a service to the Crown. The sentences were extreme - 5-7 years for the most minor petty thefts no matter if it was an adult or child. Families were separated and the government's actions to punish the so-called breadwinner and sending him thousands of miles away usually led the mother into prostitution and the children to minor thievery in order to survive. Which in turn, led to the wealthy and gentry to view that the poor were automatically criminal and being thieves, etc. was genetic. There are no numbers of how many people starved or resorted in crime in order to survive afterwards.And as much as he may want otherwise, Hughes is brutally honest about what the convicts went through as well as the aboriginal people. It is a horrific insight in the harsh environment as well as the vicious cruelty that the convicts endured and after a while, the reader may become desensitized to the abuse these men endured. Not saying that some of them managed to serve out their sentences and eventually become productive and prosperous residents of the colony because many did.It is also the sanctimonious attitude of the soldiers, parsons, governors and other officials toward the convicts that can grate on modern sensitivities. The concept that criminal activities were genetic, that whipping, abuse, starvation and other violence could drive 'evil' out and make these former convicts 'good' model citizens is now seen as ludicrous but was prevalent at that time.There are two items that did make it a bit confusing though:One: The various names of the residents - the Merinos (sheep-owners); the Specials (educated); the Currency (children born there); the Exclusives (settlers); the Emancipists (pardoned former convict) among others - made it confusing. A listing of the definitions would have been appreciated.Two: Hughes skips around a bit when moving between the three main locations - New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Norfolk Island as well as others. Admittedly, he tries to complete a specific period of time 'here' before moving over to 'there' and repeat the happenings during the same or similar time period. It becomes a bit confusing especially when governors keep changing back and forth.Overall - Hughes provided a massive amount of information creating this wonderful history of Australia's founding which some may find it overly dense reading but in turn, it provides some insight on the current people.Note: This same review is posted on GoodReads

"The Fatal Shore" delivers precisely what the subtitle promises: "the Epic of Australia's Founding."The reader, like the convicts of the time, is "transported" to this land. The risks taken to begin white settlement were beyond comprehension - - perhaps like a decision today to colonize another planet. But there is more to the history of this place than itself. This book also taught me few surprising bits about America around the time of the Revolution, and a great deal about the English, Scots, and Irish, as Hughes recreates the period of time in Great Britain that gave birth to this movement of man.The hardships of early antipodean life would be all that you could ask humans to endure if they had only to endeavor each day to secure food and shelter. But these folk had to perform those basics while managing a state of criminals, governing a budding nation, and dealing with rules made by persons nearly a year distant by the best means of travel available.The almost unimaginable conditions are carefully and vividly detailed by Hughes. His task was particularly difficult given the parsimonious records from 18th and 19th centuries that survived, and the apparent lack of interest in the Australian past that existed for the first 150 years after settlement. The author clearly worked on a labor of love and a penchant of need he felt to write this story.You read this book for its history but relish much more. There is a range of vocabulary employed which stretches your mind. There are individual stories that sometimes chill you to the bone and other times make your heavy heart warm.One story he recounts is of William Charles Wentworth, born upon arrival in the new colony, "went to school in England and came back to New South Wales in 1810. ... In 1816 he set off to England again to study law. His aims were large: He would study the British Constitution so that he could draft one for Australia ...". That's a mission statement few would subscribe themselves to achieve.The "fun" of this epic is that the Wentworth story is seasoned with a phrase from Hughes that makes the reader's mind perk up and take notice. He says Wentworth "wound up his law studies in London and went to Cambridge. This was merely to brown the crust, as he did not work for a degree." I enjoyed a great many entertaining passages in this ilk. When finished with this epic, you'll have all the facts you need to know: -Why Australia evolved the way it did -England's environment that effected colonization -How it started: The First Fleet -The workings of the Assignment System of convict labor -The central or interesting roles played by (a) common criminals; (b) political/societal criminals; (c) Aboriginies; (d) the Irish; (e) bushrangers; (f) English Governors of AustraliaPlus you get acquainted with other noteworthy people, historical views of the colonization system, and lasting influences of the early Australian experience. Devour this book slowly and judiciously, letting the writing give you both knowledge and feeling.

I am about a tenth of the way through the book and find it acceptably interesting but quite hard going. I connot understand the authors laziness about describing where the convicts originated and his terminology. He regularly, very regularly, refers to England and the English but then refers to them as British. I find that incredibly irritating. For example the English prisoners, could be English, Welsh and Scots, arrived in Botany bay aboard a British fleet.

I have a great interest in the Georgian period; the maritime and colonial history of Britain, but had never heard of this book, despite its awards.I saw Sir Trevor McDonald, on a programme called "Between the Covers", passionately promoting this as his favourite book of all time, so I thought I would give it a go.I really enjoyed the author's writing style - Descriptive and Spartan with casual swearing thrown in, in the way only an Australian can pull off. They seem to have mastered this casualness as an art form and it was refreshing and great to read.I must be honest, I thought this would read almost like an adventure book; the founding of Australia and the dashing navigators and Naval heroes who established it. This wasn't the case at all...The book focuses predominantly on the transported convicts, particularly of Van Diemen's Land.Certain governors are discussed in detail and a smattering of Aboriginal history and a few individuals are explored but be ready for a grim read which includes graphic corporal and capital punishment, savage conditions, disease and despair. I was left feeling numb by much of this, particularly the first hand accounts from the convicts themselves, quoted in depth, which ooze apathy and a sense of giving up, often they describe how they or their fellows had agreed to kill someone who wanted to die in order for them all to hang just to escape the brutal conditions.The book is 602 pages of main content plus Appendices but I personally flew through it.I highly recommend this if you are looking to learn about the experience of transportation for the convicts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Fatal Shore has two main subjects that are inextricably linked, a comprehensive history of the Transportation system used by Great Britain to dispose of its `criminal classes', and an equally comprehensive history of the founding of Australia. In many ways these stories are the same, as Hughes shows that without Transportation there may never have been a white, English-speaking Australia at all.The scope of the book is huge, beginning with the crisis in crime and punishment in Georgian Great Britain and Captain Cook's initial discovery of the east coast of Australia, moving through to the story of the First Fleet and the difficulties faced by the first settlers.Hughes then looks at several subjects in more detail, such as the development through time of the actual voyage between Great Britain and Australia, which went from being unthinkably difficult to begin with to relatively comfortable by the end of the period in question, and a look at the types of people who made up the `convicts'. Separate chapters look at the stories of the escapees and `bushrangers', the sexual habits of the people on board the ships and in the colonies including mistresses, prostitution and homosexuality, and the various means of control exercised by the authorities to try to keep these people under control, from `assignment' to chain gangs and corporal punishment.As the book moves on we get a more detailed survey of the various nascent states, the relatively prosperous New South Wales and the desperately poor Van Diemen's Land, the special penal colonies set up in places such as Norfolk Island and Port Arthur, and the ending of the system which coincided with, and was accelerated by, the discovery of gold. The effect on the indigenous population is discussed, from the almost comic first meeting on the beach at Botany Bay, to their surprising use as `convict hunters' in later years, and the tragedy of the effect that white settlement had on their traditional way of life.Throughout the book, the picture emerges of a harsh land, peopled by hard people. At many points, the treatment of the convicts is described in unflinching detail, and there is surely little doubt that in some cases the people in charge were far more unpleasant than the people under their control. If it wasn't for the horrific treatment that they suffered for it, some of the prisoner's insolence in the face of barbaric punishment would be almost admirable. However, it is also clear throughout the book that in Hughes' opinion life in Australia, even as a convict, might well be preferable to the life that the English poor would have had at home in the early nineteenth century.Hughes' skill as a writer is beyond doubt, the book is an absolutely fascinating study of the near-hundred years from the initial discovery to the end of the system; the level of detail is in turns glorious and gut-wrenching, but even the most unpleasant aspects of the story remain compulsively readable.Quite simply this is one of the best history books I've read.

Imagine you have stolen a roll of cloth to sell to buy food for the family. You are convicted. There is a new way to deal with you. It's called 'transportation'. You are taken away to 'a hulk' (a prison on a stinking old warship in a dockyard). After a few months of failed appeals, you are put on a small fleet of ships and eight months later you arrive in a totally barren country, guarded by soldiers who do not wish to be there either.The fleet has taken with it a couple of cows, a bull and some sheep.. You have limited supplies of other food If you are a male convict, you receive a third less food than the soldiers. If you are a female, you receive a third less than a male convict. En route, there are deaths. On shore, starvation gradually takes control. You have no idea whether anyone will ever come to join you and absolutely no hope of return.You also have to deal with strange, naked aborigines, who cannot communicate easily and respond variously to your presence.Meanwhile, the soldiers are also worried that the French or Dutch might come to colonise another area. It will be about sixteen months, if ever, before you get replies to any messages home. Not surprisingly, racked with fear, frustration and anger,the soldiers readily deal out punishments. One story tells of a man so beaten that they could not find any area on his back where they could lash him more!All this to reduce the large number of hangings at home which had become popular local entertainments!This is a quite remarkable story, fully documented but easily read. It will leave you astonished at all kinds of human behaviour, originating from eighteenth century Britain. The journey, the people, the country they found and how it was slowly developed is a tale of courage, wickedness, ingenuity and blind stupidity. When you have read it, you might find yourself thinking about the undeveloped countries and their people in the twenty-first century - different circumstances, similar problems!

I was staggered to find that I bought this in March. I ordered another book at the same time which I read first, but I estimate it took me about 6 months to read it, which is a very long time for me.Is it an easy read? No. Is it interesting? Yes. Would I recommend it? Maybe.Having visited Sydney, the Hawkesbury and stayed at Windsor and Richmond, and visited Bathurst I wish I had read it before I went, but I was a bit disappointed that it focused entirely on the convicts and made very little mention of the forming of these settlements.Having relatives in Tasmania I found the section on Van Diemen's Land perhaps the most interesting. The section on Norfolk Island, and in particular the reforms of Alexander Maconochie was really interesting, although I have already read a book about Maconochie which expands his ideas a lot more.I was considering buying Thomas Keneally's history of Australia and bought The Fatal Shore because of reviews on Amazon which suggested that this one was better.