Port Phillip Gentlemen: And Good Society in Melbourne Before the Gold Rushes by Paul de Serville

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed half-title page. Dust jacket has some light creasing at edges and spine. Now enclosed in protective cover. Interior and binding are also very good.

So much has been made of the egalitarian tradition in Australian history that it has overshadowed the existence of an older code, that of the gentleman, which was transplanted from Britain by settlers of breeding and rank and upheld in each of the colonies.

From 1836 to 1842, the gentlemen attempted to re-create their home life, customs and milieu in the Antipodes and establish a society based on blood, privilege and the principle of exclusion. In this, they were defeated. Social and political leadership soon passed to their liberal opponents, men who supported the idea of a society based on the worth of character and merit of achievement.

Port Phillip Gentlemen is a portrait of a forgotten age and of the aristocratic colonists who gave it a distinctive tone. Writing elegantly and with wit, Paul de Serville captures the Romantic and Regency aspects of early colonial society and examines its literary tradition. (book flap)