| Summary: |
1. The Scottish martyrs: democrats or Jacobins? -- 2. The Canadian patriots and patriotes -- 3. The Irish rebels -- 4. Exporting revolution -- 5. 'The fatal alternative': transportation or republicanism? -- 6. The native son, the fiery cleric and the democratic liberal -- 7. A British, a democratic or a democratic republican constitution? -- 8. The Victorian Constitution and 'Gold! Gold! Gold!' -- 9. The republic is postponded -- 10. The quiet years -- 11. Many voices, but no movement -- 12. 'Not yet!', and again, 'Not yet!'
British settlement in Australia began amid the great republican movements of the late 18th century and from its earliest days republican ideals affected political thinking in the colony. In this study, Audrey Oldfield investigates the subject from a biographical angle, concentrating on the people involved in the republican debate throughout the century: from the Scottish martyr, Thomas Muir, convicted of sedition in 1793, to Henry Lawson writing 'The Song of the Republic' in 1887. She explores such questions as: Did transportation to siphon off agitators and urban poor save Britain from revolution and republicanism? Was there ever any likelihood that Australia might have chosen republican constitutions in the 1850s? Was there a deliberate attempt by Britain and Australian monarchists to subvert republicanism in the federation period? |
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