The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding

The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding (#69) by Robert Hughes is an epic read as well.  This book was recommended reading by our tour company and by my sister-in-law the librarian and world traveler, for our upcoming trip to Australia.  Mr. Hughes covers the history of Australia from the landing of the British First Fleet to establish a penal colony in 1788 until the arrival of the last transport ship in 1868 with its load of Irish Fenians.  He concentrates on the convict history which he claims was not taught in Australian schools as lately as the 1960s.

It really is amazing to think about how the country/continent that I picture as enterprising, open and vigorous sprouted from a dumping ground for Britain's "criminal class" and political dissidents as far removed from the home country as it could be.  That is partly due to the opportunities that existed in this new place for convicts that were pardoned or had their "ticket of leave".  They were free to work for themselves and develop their own land or businesses in a way that they never could have done in England.  It was not until much later that the struggling British at home heard of these opportunies and decided to emigrate themselves in search of their own betterment that things began to change.  The discovery of gold in Australia was the final nail in the coffin for the transportation system and a period when the government in London began to look to Australia for its resources and not just as a handy oubliette.

Lest you think that the prisoners had an easy time of it, Mr. Hughes reminds you of the struggles with the Aborigines whose failure to understand the European concept of property put them in direct conflict with the settlers.  But those conflicts pale in comparison to what the British overseers of this vast prison system inflicted on their own people.  Flogging is such a common thread that out of curiousity I looked up the word "flogging" in the book's index.  It does not appear because you could turn to almost any page that discusses the "system" and find reference to it. 

I did learn a lot from reading this book, but frankly I also found it a bit tedious to read.  The author skips about so, it's sometimes hard to keep on track.  The constant descriptions of floggings and other punishments are unrelenting.  I didn't feel I needed to be hit over the head quite so often with it.  I got it the first thirty or so times.  Mr. Hughes also brings up homosexuality a number of times.  I suppose when he wrote this book in 1986 that this was more shocking than it appears to be today - in fact, in a society where the male population greatly outnumbered the females, and in the more isolated penal colonies for repeat offenders, it would be surprising if this sort of activity wasn't taking place.

Personally, I don't think the writers who wrote the glowing cover blurbs for The Fatal Shore ever actually did more than skim the contents lightly.  If they had, maybe they would have picked up some of the more egregious editing mistakes in the book and in the maps included.  They may have also picked up that Mr. Hughes, despite living in New York City at the time, does not like Americans, but is careful to hide his snide comments in the footnotes.  He probably figured we were too dumb to ever read them.