Australian History Books

Posted by Susan Whelan Mar 6, 2009

Recently I’ve been interested in reading more about Australian history and I’ve found some great books about the early convict settlers and the European settlement of Australia.

I just finished reading 1788: The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet (William Heineman, 2008) by David Hill. I was particularly keen to read this, as I enjoyed reading Hill’s The Forgotten Children (Random House, 2007) last year.

1788 gives an account of the preparation, sailing and arrival of the First Fleet carrying convicts from England to Australia. There are lots of details, including the size and capacity of the ships in the fleet, the number of convicts, military and private citizens on the trip, information about the provisions and so on. It is ideal for anyone interested in the background of the fleet and the struggles of the first years of settlement.

For a fiction-style account of the early Australian settlers, Carol Baxter’s Breaking the Bank (Allen & Unwin, 2008) is a well-researched, based on fact narrative about the biggest bank robbery in Australian history. In September 1828, thieves tunnelled through the floor of the Sydney’s Bank of Australia and stole £14,000 (the equivalent of $20 million in today’s currency). The story is very detailed, but is presented as fiction.

The Story of Australia (Five Mile Press, 2008) is ideal for Australian history buffs, as it includes removable replicas of documents such as the official programme to mark the celebrations of the declaration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1st January 1901, an extract of the list of convicts on the First Fleet and Lord Sydney’s plans for establishing a colony in Australia, and documents and drawings by Matthew Flinders, William Bligh, Eddie Mabo and Joseph Banks.

Out of the three books above, only the last features significant information about the conflict between European settlers and the original indigenous inhabitants of Australia. I would be very interested in receiving recommendations for titles that offer the Aboriginal point of view. I missed seeing the SBS program First Australians and would be interested in hearing opinions of both the show and the accompanying book.