The Settlers
The Australians 3 – The Settlers
© Vivian Stuart, 1980
© eBook in English: Jentas ehf. 2021
Series: The Australians
Title: The Settlers
Title number: 3
ISBN: 978-9979-64-228-2
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchase.
All contracts and agreements regarding the work, editing, and layout are owned by Jentas ehf.
The Australians
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For Kim and Lee, William, Simon, Edward and Marjorie ... my most affectionately regarded Australian family.
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges, most gratefully, the guidance received from Lyle Kenyon Engel in the writing of this book, as well as the help and cooperation of the editorial staff at Book Creations, Incorporated, of Canaan, New York: Marla Ray Engel, Philip Rich, and particularly Rebecca Rubin, who travelled a long way in order to work on it.
Also deeply appreciated has been the aid in the field of background research so efficiently given by Vera Koenigswarter and May Scullion in Sydney, Australia.
The main books consulted were: The English Colony in New South Wales—Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins, reprinted by Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd., 1910; The Macarthurs of Camden—S. M. Onslow, reprinted by Rigby Ltd., 1973 (1914 edition); A Colonial Autocracy—M. Phillips, P. S. King & Son, 1909; A Picturesque Atlas of Australia—Hon. Andrew Garran, Melbourne, 1886 (two volumes, kindly lent by Anthony Morris): The First Twenty Years of Australia—A. Bonwick, 1882; Rum Rebellion—H. V. Evatt, Angus & Robertson Pty. Ltd., 1938 (reprinted 1975); A Book of the Bounty—G. Mackaness, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1938; Mutiny of the Bounty—Sir John Barrow, Oxford University Press, 1831 (reprinted 1914); My Love Must Wait—Ernestine Hill, Angus & Robertson Pty. Ltd., 1941.
These titles were obtained from Conrad Bailey of Sandringham, Victoria, and through the York City Public Library and the recently retired City Librarian, O. S. Tomlinson. Maps were made from copies obtained from various sources, including the Mitchell Library, Sydney.
Because this is written as a novel, a number of fictional characters have been created and superimposed on the narrative, but the basic story of Australia’s early years is factually and historically accurate. When real life characters’ actions, adventures, and misadventures are described, they are true and actually took place as nearly as possible as described, having regard for the novelist’s obligation to tell a dramatic story against a factual background. In the light of hindsight, opinions differ as to the merits or otherwise of Captain John Macarthur and also of Governor Bligh—each has his admirers and his critics, just as each, being human, has his vices and his virtues. Both are shown here, warts and all ... but it is a fact, which the author freely acknowledges, that John Macarthur played a very prominent and valuable part in rendering the colony prosperous by establishing its wool industry. He also, as Book Three in this series will illustrate, came perilously near to destroying it ...
The author spent eight years in Australia and travelled throughout the country, from Sydney to Perth, across the Nullarbor Plain, and to Broome, Wyndham, and Derby, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide, with a spell on the Dutch East Indian Islands and on a station at Toowoomba, having served in the Australian Forces and the British XIV Army during World War II.