Unwilling Emigrants: A Study of the Convict Period in Western Australia by Alexandra Hasluck

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Includes frontpiece. Dust jacket is in fair condition with tears to top and tail edges and spine. Dust jacket is now enclosed in protective cover.

This book was inspired by the discovery of a tattered bundle of letters. The letters were written by Myra Sykes to her husband William, who had been transported to the Swan River Colony. In the 1850s, the eastern colonies had either ceased taking convicts or were in the process of ending transportation. The Swan River Colony settlers, however, were desperate for labour and were petitioning the British government to send convicts. Alexandra Hasluck uses William Sykes as an example of the "prototype "convict sent to Western Australia.