Legends of Australia

A lively tale of early Australia written by someone who was there.

It contains stories of convicts and bushrangers told at a racing pace and no moralising, no dull long descriptive passages but surprisingly modern in its storytelling. The basis of the tale is of a young aristocrat convicted of murdering his father-in-law and transported to Botany Bay. He is not the innocent, hard done by, hero depicted in later novels.

His beautiful young wife chased after him, arrived in Sydney, and then had an exciting cross country ride to Bong Bong in an open mail coach driven by a larrikin character called John Smith. He is really another aristocrat but his comic antics, especially on board ship where he kidnapped the surgeon gives the story quite another dimension.

The ending is a happy one with the convict husband being assigned to his wife - for life.

This is a tale you will enjoy giving you as well a true picture of Australia in the 1830's.