Tasmanian Authors - Books


New books on my shelf.

Patchwork Prisoners   . the Rajah Quilt and the women who made it.  by Trudy Cowley & Dianne Snowden.

Patchwork Prisoners is a study of the 108 female convicts who were transported on the convict ship Rajah from England to Hobart in 1841. It is also a study of the Rajah Quilt and the convicts who may have been involved in making it during their voyage to Van Diemen's Land. The role of Miss Kezia, the ship's Matron, in making the quilt is also explores.I will place this book with others that have been written by our Tasmanian authors with pride.

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The Ambitions of Jane Franklin Victorian Lady Adventurer. by Alison Alexander.

 
An engrossing biogrophy of a fearless modern woman in Tasmanian History. I have many of alison's books on my shelf and will be proud to add this one to my bookcase.

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 Murphy's Signals Hobart Town. The Colonial ship flags and Semaphore signal charts of convict's guard Pt. Edward Murphy, 99th Regiment of Foot, Van Diemen's Land.  by Mark Risby     

   
This beautiful produced book in full colour will be one of my most favourites books, as it deals with a soldier I researched in the late 1980s.  Mark has done a great honour to Edward Murphy in bringing his eleven pen and ink drawings to our notice in such a manner that it will be treasured by all who add it to their bookcase. 


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Crossing the devine. A history of Alpha and Jericho Districts (Qld) by Janice Cooper.


The Jerico Shire, formed in 1916, covered 22 888 square kilometres across the Great Devine Range in Western Queensland and included the rural districts of Alpha and Jerico.   The history - of the pastoral industry, of transport and communication and the rural communities, as well as local government - highlights the roles played by over 800 men, women and children who spent part or all their lives in the area from early European settlement until the Shire was amalgamated in 2008.   

This book is of interest to me because it includes some of my Shepherd family and written by my cousin Janice. 

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                       Fight The Fiery Field
            Colonial Fire Fighting 1803 -1883. 
                  by Roger V. McNeice OBM
  

        Stories of Colonial fires and the men who fought them.

  
Books of Interest


I would like to use this page as a means of sharing information and events that I come across throughout my research work. It might be a book I am reading, or an article in the paper, even something of interest found on the lists or websites that we can share. A cloudy Boxing Day seems a good day to start.

Lets start with books:

Tasmanian Women, History Books, and Places.

The third  book in the series "Of Islands and Women" written by Susanna Hoe.

This book will be launched in Hobart on the 25 November 2010 


The Irish Vanguard
The Convicts of the Queen. Ireland to Botany Bay 1791. By Barbara Hall.

This is the fifth book written by Barbara Hall. All five contain the profiles of men and women convicts who came from Ireland to NSW between 1793 and 1797.

The Irish Vanguard has each convicts name, their trial and followes their lives after their arrival, in some cases to Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land, their families and in most cases their death.

Barbara introduced me firstly to "The Origans of Irish Convict transportion to NSW" and because James Jordan was one of the Convicts on the "Queen" we exchanged information. This is a very well and researched book and along with her others will help many descendants find out more about their ancestors.

This was a very eagly awaited book for me, containing as it does the profile of James Jordan.

Her other books:

A Desperate Set of Villains. ship "Marquis Cornwallis" 1796.

A Nimble Fingered Tribe. ship "Sugar Cane" 1793.

Of Infamous Character. ship "Buddingtons" 1793.

Death or Liberty. ship "Britannia" 1797.


"The Origin's of Irish Convicts Transported to New South Wales"
by Bob Reece 2001.

I found this book both enlightening and disturbing I knew that convicts were sent to America much erlier than they were sent out here to Australia. The war of independence brought the flow to America to a dwindle by the 1790s.

What I didn't know was the hugh amount of convicts sent from Ireland and the harsh treatment the suffered in the hands of their own countrymen.

Why this book was so interesting to me was that it answered a question I had been searching for over 20 years and that was did James Sheridan/Jordan sail to Newfoundland before embarking on the Queen for NSW in 1790. I knew some of the Queen convicts had but not if James was one of them.

James Jordan alias Sheridan was convicted in Dublin in 1798 but his records did not survive and it has never been known what his crime was. Now because of Bob Reece's book I know that he did go to Newfoundland because the indents of those convicts who were returned to England was recorded and James Sheridan's name is on the list.

This book will be of interest to many who have not know about this most interesting part of our history, nor would they realize that some of the convicts who survived the terrible hardships at Newfoundland would find themselve on Norfolk Island and in James Jordan's case, in VDL.


Around Tasmania in a Whaleboat 1986 In the wake of Captain James Kelly. 
by Bern Cuthbertson 1986

This was the first book written by Bern and like his second book tells his story of him not only building these replicas but also sailing in them 


In the Wake of Bass and Flinders 200 years on.

by Bern Cuthbertson. 2001

The story of the re-inactment voyage 200 years on in the whalebook Elizabeth abd the replica sloop Norfolk to celebrate the bicentenary of the voyabes of George Bass and Matthew Flinders


"Small Ships That Shaped My Life"
By Bern Cuthbertson 2008. 

Tells the story of Bern's early childhood up to the present time. Some of these stories I heard on the deck of the Lady Nelson when I had the pleasure of sailing with Bern as the ship's purser. The other stories tha he told on many cold wet nights were about the coastline that we were sailing past on our many voyages in those first years after the Lady Nelson returned to Tamania in 1996.

Bern has told the story as he recalled it, the many places he lived in, the hard work that he carried out as a boy on his father's fishing boat, plus the many ships he skippered himself over the years.

I still have many pages to read but I think it will be one of those books where I hate to get to the end.




I have always found Jewish stories interesting and over the years have researched some of those who came to Australia as convicts.

Here is a list of books I have read.

The Forefathers A Dictionary of Biography of the Jews of Australia 1788-1830. John Simon Levi.

These are the Names. John Simon Levi.


A Few From Afar. Peter & Ann Ellias.


The First Fagan. Judith Sackville O'Donnell


From One End of the Earth to the Other.  Jeremy I Pfeffer (Still to
 read)
More information about these books can be found on line. Chapter on convict Jews sent to Australia.


The Tin Ticket.  The Historic Journey of Australia's Convict Women.
by Deborah J. Swiss.

The Water Getters. How Hobart quenched its thrist. by Bernard Lloyd.

The Romance of Mount Wellington. by John and Maria Grist.

This is a beautifully illistrated book showing early postcards of Mount Wellington, photos and insights on the now deserted sites that were once the week-end retreats of many lovers of this beautiful mountain.

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