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This Beauteous, Wicked Place: Letters and Journals of John Grant, Gentleman Convict

Edited by Yvonne Cramer

John Grant [b.1776] gentleman and convict was transported to New South Wales in 1803. His letters and journals provide a rare and fascinating glimpse of life in the colony through the eyes of an exile. Acquainted with many prominent colonists, Grant's commentary on social and political matters captures the intrigues and complexities of the time. A man of conscience, his experiences of injustice made him an outspoken critic of the colonial authorities and system of justice.

Yvonne Cramer introduces this valuable chronicle of early Australian society, providing pertinent historical background to the people and events portrayed. A portion of Grant's original journal was written in code, presumably to keep prying eyes from his often scathing and gossipy accounts. Through her meticulous work, Cramer has decoded Grant's secret language, making his thoughts and impressions fully available for the first time.

This Beauteous, Wicked Place is illustrated with images from the National Library of Australia's Pictorial Collection.

A powerful voice in the early nineteenth century, the words of John Grant retain their potency almost two centuries later.

Information on author:

Yvonne Cramer is a researcher, broadcaster and writer who trained with the Melbourne Herald and with the Australian Broadcasting Commission television service in Victoria.

Her first marriage, to an RAF officer, took her back to England and to a life of travel in Europe, before she returned home to Australia with her three sons in 1973. She joined the Seven Network in Canberra, producing and presenting a women's program for two years before re-joining the ABC where she researched, produced and presented a local current affairs program for six years.

A move to Melbourne saw Yvonne establish a Public Affairs department for the Victorian Health Commission before moving to advise on public affairs with the Victorian Arts Centre, the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands and the New South Wales Health Department in Sydney.

Returning to Canberra, Yvonne provided advice on media liaison and management to the Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn during the debate on the ordination of women as priests and simultaneously provided a research consultancy to the ABC program 'Compass' at their Gore Hill studios in Sydney.

In 1994 she was retained by the National Library of Australia to compile an anthology of letters between friends, to be guest edited by noted Sydney poet Elizabeth Riddell. Entitled With Fond Regards, that work was the genesis for the publication This Beauteous Wicked Place.

Yvonne now works as a freelance researcher and media and public affairs consultant with a number of national and local institutions and organisations.

ISBN 0 642 10702 5
2000, pb, 230 x 190 mm, b&w and colour illus.

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Last updated 11 September 2000