The Grand Experiment: Two Boys, Two Cultures by Anouk Ride

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Ex library copy with no external stickers. Has protective plastic covering. Pages are sunned. Book is clean and binding is fine.

In 1848, the Spanish missionary Rosendo Salvado, founder of New Norcia Monastery in Western Australia, had an idea. He would prove that Aboriginal people could be educated and ‘civilised’, by taking two Nyungar boys to be schooled in Europe.

And so it was that Conaci, aged seven, and Dirimera, aged ten, left their tribe to travel by sea to the racially-divided colony of South Africa, Ireland at the beginning of their nationalist uprising, the United Kingdom in the midst of its industrial revolution, France ravaged by civil war and finally entered a monastery in Naples.

The Grand Experiment is a remarkable – and timely – book. It is a colourful detective story of research through libraries and archives across the world, and very much a beginning of the ‘stolen generations’ story. (back cover)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers, please note that this book may contain descriptions and/or images of people who have passed away.