Hobart Town
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.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Nestled at the foot of the brooding kunanyi/Mount Wellington and cradled by the sweeping waters of the Derwent River, Hobart stands as one of Australia's oldest and most storied cities — and Hobart Town by Peter Bolger is the definitive chronicle of its remarkable origins. The book transports the reader back to the earliest days of European settlement in Van Diemen's Land, reconstructing the social fabric, urban development, and cultural life of a convict-era town struggling to carve out an identity at the edge of the known world. Bolger meticulously details the people, institutions, and forces that shaped the settlement from its rough-hewn beginnings into a recognisable colonial township, painting a vivid portrait of daily life amid the tensions of penal society. Drawing on rich primary sources and rigorous historical scholarship, Bolger presents a compelling argument that Hobart's early character was forged not in spite of its convict heritage, but because of it — a thesis that challenges comfortable colonial myths and rewards the attentive reader. His prose is precise yet evocative, illuminating the street-level realities of a society simultaneously brutal and aspirational. A foundational work in Australian urban history, Hobart Town remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how a remote penal outpost grew into the vibrant capital of Tasmania — and just what was lost, and gained, along the way.
Author: Peter Bolger
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, Australian National University Press
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing
Markings: Previous owner
Nestled at the foot of the brooding kunanyi/Mount Wellington and cradled by the sweeping waters of the Derwent River, Hobart stands as one of Australia's oldest and most storied cities — and Hobart Town by Peter Bolger is the definitive chronicle of its remarkable origins. The book transports the reader back to the earliest days of European settlement in Van Diemen's Land, reconstructing the social fabric, urban development, and cultural life of a convict-era town struggling to carve out an identity at the edge of the known world. Bolger meticulously details the people, institutions, and forces that shaped the settlement from its rough-hewn beginnings into a recognisable colonial township, painting a vivid portrait of daily life amid the tensions of penal society. Drawing on rich primary sources and rigorous historical scholarship, Bolger presents a compelling argument that Hobart's early character was forged not in spite of its convict heritage, but because of it — a thesis that challenges comfortable colonial myths and rewards the attentive reader. His prose is precise yet evocative, illuminating the street-level realities of a society simultaneously brutal and aspirational. A foundational work in Australian urban history, Hobart Town remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how a remote penal outpost grew into the vibrant capital of Tasmania — and just what was lost, and gained, along the way.