En savoir plus
Informationen zum Autor Graeme Davison is Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University, and author of The Rise and Fall of Marvellous Melbourne and Car Wars , and editor of the Oxford Companion to Australian History . Klappentext Through the lives of two generations of his forebears, one of Australia's most respected historians tells the story of English free settlers arriving in the mid-19th century: the miners, millers, storekeepers, free selectors and railwaymen who built the Australia we know today.Historian Graeme Davison was never interested in family history. But when he discovered in his grandfather's notebook an account of the family's arrival in Melbourne in 1850 on the infamous ship Culloden, his interest was piqued. He uncovers a largely forgotten world of free selectors, water-powered mills and Methodist evangelists that became the backbone of the Australia we know today. Zusammenfassung In 1839, Hampshire yeoman John Hewett died prematurely and left his wife and eight children to manage on their own. Times were tough, and after their landlord put their farm up for sale, Jane Hewett emigrated to Australia with all her children in 1850. Graeme Davison traces the lives of two generations of the Hewett family, setting them in their historical context in both the UK and Australia. With scant family records, he draws on the full array of public records available in both the UK and Australia, showing as he works how a master historian weighs the evidence and pulls the story together. Throughout he reflects on the meaning of family history, but with a light touch that doesn't get in the way of the story. Through the Hewett family, he paints a picture of colonial Australia: migration of free settlers taking over from the convict period, the work available to men and to women, the gold rush, the rise of the railways, growth of farming. The rise and fall of family fortunes reflects the turbulent growth of the colonies during this period. He writes, 'I did not look for skeletons in my family's cupboard, but once the cupboard was open, they simply fell out.' ...
Commentaire
Anyone interested in family history should read this book. Instead of parochialism, it offers a series of microcosms. It is the work of a master practitioner. Weekend Australian
