{"product_id":"2026100008756-secondhand-highway-in-van-diemens-land","title":"Highway In Van Diemen's Land","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image. Creased\/faded spine. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore the highways of modern Australia were paved, the roads of Van Diemen's Land — the colonial name for Tasmania — were carved through wilderness by convict hands and colonial ambition, and Highway in Van Diemen's Land chronicles that remarkable story with scholarly precision and regional passion. G. Hawley Stancombe presents a detailed historical account of the development of road infrastructure in early colonial Tasmania, tracing the routes, the labour, and the political will that transformed a remote penal settlement into a navigable society. Illustrated by Eric Ratcliff, the work brings visual life to the historical record, grounding its narrative in the specific geography and landmarks of the island.\n\nPublished under the auspices of the National Trust of Australia (Tasmania) and set at Glendessary, Western Junction, the volume stands as an important work of regional heritage documentation, preserving knowledge of an era that shaped the Tasmanian landscape irrevocably. Stancombe's prose is methodical yet evocative, reflecting the rigour of an archivist and the affection of a local historian deeply invested in his subject. For those drawn to the intersection of convict history, colonial engineering, and the raw geography of Australia's island state, this is an indispensable record — one that asks the reader to look at every road and wonder who truly built it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49342761042139,"sku":"2026100008756-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/af58e147-b330-4abe-9f2f-ab1562a426a7.png?v=1790048676","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100008756-secondhand-highway-in-van-diemens-land","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}