Re: Australia's Founding Mothers and Fathers.

On Oct 28, 3:23 am, "B.H. Cramer" <bensalw...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"jgarbuz" <jgar...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:d3155851-fcc6-4a37-99c7-6efe79cdd54f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thieves, whores and prostitutes. SEE

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/video-chapters/voyage-of-the-courtesa...

Yep. The same type of people who colonised the Americas, garbageguz, one
hundred years after.<

You are partially right, that when the Brits lost the American
colonies, they needed a new overseas prison, and that was how
Australian colonization began. At least with America, many of the
earliest colonists were Puritans and others who sought freedom from
old world religious and other restrictions. But with Australia,
criminals, prostitutes and thieves were sent to be its first permanent
colonists. That's just a historical fact, that it's "puritans" were
pure convicts and prostitutes. Read

The Commonwealth of Thieves: The Story of the Founding of Australia
(2006)
A non fiction book by
Thomas Keneally

With the authority of a brilliant historian and the narrative grace of
a great novelist, Thomas Keneally recounts the founding of the first
penal colony in Australia in 1788. Drawing on historical documents and
journals, he weaves the stories of a diverse, colorful cast of
characters into a dramatic saga of the birth of a vibrant society in
an unfamiliar land.

At the center of THE COMMONWEALTH OF THIEVES is Arthur Phillips, an
ambitious captain in the Royal Navy assigned the formidable task of
organizing the expedition to Australia and establishing a colony
comprised mainly of unskilled and malcontent criminals and petty
thieves. Using Phillips's personal journals, along with other
historical documents, Keneally re-creates the grueling overseas
voyage, a hellish journey that claimed the lives of many convicts. As
governor of the colony, Phillips took on the challenges of dealing
with unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, a bewildered, sometimes
hostile native population, as well as such serious matters as food
shortages and disease. In the end Phillips emerges as a governor
driven by a yearning for recognition and advancement, yet possessed of
a social conscience rare for his time. Keneally's captivating
portraits of Aborigines who both aided and opposed Phillips, and of
various settlers—including convicts determined to overcome their pasts
and begin anew—add depth and color to his incisive, engaging narrative
on a watershed period in history.
.