Tour to Hell: Convict Australia's Great Escape Myths by David Levell

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Pages are sunned.

Vivid and barely believable stories of courage and foolhardiness in colonial Australia. Tour to Hell tells the riveting and often tragic stories of the convicts who escaped, or tried to escape, Australia's early penal settlements.

With the continent a blank slate to the newcomers, a 'convict escape mythology' developed, suggesting sanctuaries in the bush and short overland journeys to other countries.

One of the incredible myths that spread was that China was just north of New South Wales, separated only by a large river. Until this mythology swept through the convict ranks, the bush had made a very effective prison wall. Once it did, however, the fear of the unknown became a liberating (but mostly misplaced) faith in the bush.

With an engaging and fast-paced narrative, Tour to Hell is Australian history at its rollicking best. It graphically brings to life the adventures of absconding sanctuary-seekers and their opponents. (publisher blurb)