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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 43 | February 2000


This Beauteous, Wicked Place
By Yvonne Cramer

'This Beauteous Wicked Place'

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. Another forthcoming National Library publication focused on Australia’s colonisation, This Beauteous, Wicked Place: Letters and Journals of John Grant, Gentleman Convict describes the politics and society, the rudimentary agriculture and the grand commercial aspirations of penal New South Wales.

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.

Grant’s remarkable journals and correspondence, held in the 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. This Beauteous, Wicked Place will be released in March.

ISBN 0642107025, pb, B5+, b&w and colour illus., RRP $29.95, plus $5.00 postage and handling if ordered from Sales and Distribution, National Library of Australia, CANBERRA ACT 2600; tel.: (02) 6262 1646 or 1800 800 100; email: nlasales@nla.gov.au; fax: (02) 6273 1084

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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: tford@nla.gov.au

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