Colony: Strange Origins of One of the Earliest Modern Democracies by Reg Hamilton

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Ex library copy with all external stickers removed. Protective plastic covering. Partial date due slip on inside page. Red stamp mark on half title page. Book is clean and binding intact.

Until 1832 the small towns of England were ruled by a curious set of institutions. These included the local Church of England and its vestry and the unelected and self-appointing local government. They also had vigorous campaigns for election to the House of Commons, and public voting, characterised by virulent free speech and the occasional riot.

How would these institutions transfer to Britain's colonies?

In 1856 the remote colony of South Australia had a secret ballot, votes for all adult men, and religious freedom, and in 1857 self-government by an elected parliament. The basic framework of modern democracy was suddenly established.

How did South Australia become so modern so early? How did British colonists radically transform British institutions, and why did the Colonial Office allow it?

Reg Hamilton answers these questions with an amusing history of the curious institutions of unreconstructed Dover before modern democracy, in the period 1780-1835, and of the spirited and occasionally shameful conduct of colonists far from home but determined to make their fortune in the distant colony of South Australia. (back cover)