Pig Bites Baby!: Stories from Australia's First Newspaper

Two hundred years ago Australia's first newspaper was crammed with extraordinary human interest stories. This marvellous compendium drawn from its yellowing pages captures the excitement of Australia's early years.

Discover a rackety period when pigs ruled the unruly streets, when a bushranger walked into Hobart carrying a dead man's head, when a body was left hanging on an island in Sydney Harbour, and when an escaping convict got himself eaten in New Zealand. This is us. In a country so new it hadn't even been named Australia yet, these stories capture the tragedy and triumphs, and also the sardonic wit and humour that would be typically our own.

The 'Sydney Gazette' was published from 1803 until 1842. This selection of extracts is from 1803 until early 1810. When publication of the newspaper began there were only about 7000 colonists in New South Wales. There were fewer than 600 free settlers, and only 400 military and government officers. Sydney had less than 700 houses and its populations was under 2500. The inhabitants were free and easy in their morals.

Convict or free, everyone read the 'Sydney Gazette' for its news and for the Government Orders which touched all their lives. Now we can get a glimpse of what it was like back then through these newspaper articles.