Product Description: During a major overhaul of British imperial policy following the Napoleonic Wars, an escaped convict reinvented himself as an improbable activist, renowned for his exposés of government misconduct and corruption in the Cape Colony and New South Wales...read more

Product Description: 1762. Mary is desperate to escape her embittered mother. So when her marriage to a prosperous sea captain is arranged, she embraces the damp salt air, cramped conditions and bad food. She sets sail on the Isabella, away from the land of her childhood towards unseen places and an unknown future...read more

Product Description: In May 1835 in a Sydney courtroom, a slight, balding man named John Dow stood charged with forgery. The prisoner shocked the room by claiming he was Edward, Viscount Lascelles, eldest son of the powerful Earl of Harewood. The Crown alleged he was a confidence trickster and serial impostor...read more

Product Description: The hidden stories of two Australian port towns rife with gossip and dubious reputations are uncovered in this history. This study argues that colonial societies offered European settlers the chance to invent new identities, an opportunity they exploited with a vengeance which ultimately influenced imperial policy and became a key element in the emergence of a society deeply divided by class and race...read more