Includes index. Few convicts transported to Australia could read and write; fewer still enjoyed entrée to the colony’s social circles: but John Grant was no ordinary convict. Arriving in Australia in 1804, Grant was a well-educated and passionate observer of the young colony. His status as a gentleman initially shielded him from the grimmest realities of the convict system, but he soon became an outspoken critic of its autocratic power structure. He describes the politics and society, the rudimentary agriculture and the grand commercial aspirations of penal New South Wales.
Grant’s remarkable journals and correspondence held in the National Library’s Manuscript Collection provide a disturbing view of colonial and convict life. But he also records the beauties of the new continent—beauties illustrated in this publication by contemporary artworks from the Library’s Pictorial Collection.

Grant’s commentary, most of which has not been published until now, provides a startling and rare eyewitness account of the social and political complexities of the time.
Includes bibliographical references and index.