Jan Kociumbas traces the development of the various British penal colonies during the century that followed James Cook's discovery of Australia, in an assertive, feminist, and at times revisionist reading of Australia's colonial history.

Reviews

'Providing a wide-ranging, integrated and highly readable version of the anti-triumphalist view of Australian history, Kociumbas presents a convenient target for those who would like to reaffirm the idea of a unitary and consensual national past.' London Review of Books, March 1993 |d 13/04/1993