An Excursion To Port Arthur In 1842
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: facsimile edition. No. 162 of 250 copies
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Good
Markings: Signed
Condition remarks: Signed by Bruce L. Evans (Foreword). 22pp
In the colonial wilderness of Van Diemen's Land, a journey to the notorious penal settlement of Port Arthur in 1842 unfolds with remarkable clarity and immediacy. An Excursion to Port Arthur in 1842 chronicles the vivid first-hand account of David Burn, a Scottish-born playwright and journalist who ventured to one of the most formidable convict establishments in the British Empire, presenting a rare and intimate portrait of colonial Australian life at its most raw and complex. Burn's narrative captures the settlement's austere architecture, its disciplined routines, and the haunting human drama embedded within its stone walls, offering a window into a world that has since become one of Australia's most significant historical sites. This facsimile reprint, published by H. A. Evans & Son in Melbourne in 1972, preserves the original text as a treasured document of Australian colonial history, complemented by period illustrations — including an evocative etching of Port Arthur Church by John Skinner Prout. Burn's prose carries the observational authority of a trained literary man, blending journalistic precision with genuine curiosity, making this account an indispensable primary source for students of convict history and 19th-century Australian society. Who was the man behind the pen, and what did he truly make of the silent suffering that surrounded him?
Author: David Burn; Bruce L. Evans (Foreword)
Format: Hardback
Published: 1972, H. A. Evans & Son
Genre: Australian history
Edition: facsimile edition. No. 162 of 250 copies
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: No dust jacket - cloth/board in good condition
Pages: Good
Markings: Signed
Condition remarks: Signed by Bruce L. Evans (Foreword). 22pp
In the colonial wilderness of Van Diemen's Land, a journey to the notorious penal settlement of Port Arthur in 1842 unfolds with remarkable clarity and immediacy. An Excursion to Port Arthur in 1842 chronicles the vivid first-hand account of David Burn, a Scottish-born playwright and journalist who ventured to one of the most formidable convict establishments in the British Empire, presenting a rare and intimate portrait of colonial Australian life at its most raw and complex. Burn's narrative captures the settlement's austere architecture, its disciplined routines, and the haunting human drama embedded within its stone walls, offering a window into a world that has since become one of Australia's most significant historical sites. This facsimile reprint, published by H. A. Evans & Son in Melbourne in 1972, preserves the original text as a treasured document of Australian colonial history, complemented by period illustrations — including an evocative etching of Port Arthur Church by John Skinner Prout. Burn's prose carries the observational authority of a trained literary man, blending journalistic precision with genuine curiosity, making this account an indispensable primary source for students of convict history and 19th-century Australian society. Who was the man behind the pen, and what did he truly make of the silent suffering that surrounded him?