The Colony

A groundbreaking history of the marvelously contrary, endlessly energetic early years of the colony of Sydney From the sparkling harbor to the Cumberland Plain, from convicts to the city's political elite, from the impact of its geology to its economy, this groundbreaking history offers an intimate account of the transformation of a campsite in a beautiful cove to the town that later became Australia's largest and best-known city. Skillfully revealing how the landscape shaped the lives of the Aboriginal inhabitants and newcomers alike, this history first traces the ways in which relationships between the colonial authorities and ordinary men and women broke with old patterns, and how settler and Aboriginal histories became entwined. It also uncovers the ties between the burgeoning township and its rural hinterland expanding along the river systems of the Cumberland Plain. Enthusiastically received on first publication, this is a landmark account of the birthplace of modern Australia, and a fascinating and richly textured narrative of people and place.