Colonial Adventure
Author: Ken Gelder
ISBN: 9780522879544
Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing
Year first published: 08 Oct 2024
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback / softback
Adventure was one of the grand narratives of colonisation, which saw European powers sending agents off to new and distant worlds. Their journeys didn't always follow a straight line. Some were shipwrecked, lost or marooned; adventure turned into misadventure. Others left the colony as soon as they arrived. Convicts fled to Timor, China, and South America, while bushrangers roamed the country, antagonising colonial authorities. But when adventurers directly served the interests of colonisation, they could be violent, ruthless, and brutally racist, rapaciously seeking profit and property. Many adventurers went wherever ambition took them, killing and dispossessing Aboriginal people and claiming ownership of their lands. By examining colonial adventure narratives in all their rawness and complexity, this book asks us to reflect on the continuing legacies of colonisation in Australia today.
ISBN: 9780522879544
Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing
Year first published: 08 Oct 2024
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback / softback
Adventure was one of the grand narratives of colonisation, which saw European powers sending agents off to new and distant worlds. Their journeys didn't always follow a straight line. Some were shipwrecked, lost or marooned; adventure turned into misadventure. Others left the colony as soon as they arrived. Convicts fled to Timor, China, and South America, while bushrangers roamed the country, antagonising colonial authorities. But when adventurers directly served the interests of colonisation, they could be violent, ruthless, and brutally racist, rapaciously seeking profit and property. Many adventurers went wherever ambition took them, killing and dispossessing Aboriginal people and claiming ownership of their lands. By examining colonial adventure narratives in all their rawness and complexity, this book asks us to reflect on the continuing legacies of colonisation in Australia today.
