The History of Tasmania: With Copious Information Respecting the Colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia by John West

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Some marks on foredges. Dust jacket has light wear and is now enclosed in a protective cover. Interior and binding are also very good.

First published in 1852 and reissued in 1971, edited and annotated by A. G. L. Shaw, History of Tasmania remains incomparably the best history of the early development of Van Diemen's Land.

That period of Tasmanian history from first settlement in 1803 to the middle 1800s saw two of the grimmest features of Australian colonisation - the treatment of convicts sent to the penal settlements of Tasmania and the persecution and extermination of the Tasmanian Aborigines.

Though deeply sympathetic to the Aborigines and a great humanitarian, West's lively account strives to be fair and balanced. A. G. L. Shaw's introductory material, bibliography and his notes on the text bring to the work the benefits of hindsight and wide research, correcting and supplementing where necessary. (book flap)