{"product_id":"origins-the-making-of-australia-17881825","title":"Origins: The Making of Australia, 1788–1825","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"blurb-full-body bi-blue-links blurb-short\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA remarkable new account of Australia's colonial beginnings\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"blurb-full-body bi-blue-links\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis fascinating book sets aside the clichés of Australian history and asks us to look again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘Neither first peoples nor convict colonisers are absent from the written record. That both groups have more often been represented as victims of history rather than as history makers is due less to the limitations of the archive than to how it has been used. It should be unsurprising that the First Nations people who defended, managed and continued to live on colonised land were central to the emergence of a new way of life among the British men and women exiled there. First peoples, convicts and country are central to this book, because, the evidence confirms, they are the founders of what we now call Australia.’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat really happened when exiled criminals made a home in an occupied and defended country? How were they changed by this new world? What can the first years of settlement tell us about Australia today?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe First Fleet left Britain at the height of the enclosure movement, when traditional rights to communal land were being rapidly extinguished. Many convicts brought those older ideas about land with them, and the first years of the colony saw a distinctive new society develop. Later, it was supplanted by a system favouring free settlers, large land grants and a creed of unstoppable progress. But the first thirty-five years of the colony tell a different story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOrigins\u003c\/em\u003e, James Boyce brings this formative period to life. The protagonists include convicts, Aboriginal people, soldiers, governors, and the country itself. The picture that emerges will change how you think about Australia's origins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJames Boyce is a multi-award-winning historian. His first book, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Van Diemen's Land James Boyce\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.mhnsw.au\/products\/van-diemens-land-paperback\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eVan Diemen’s Land\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, was described by Richard Flanagan as ‘the most significant colonial history since \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Fatal Shore\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’. He is also the editor of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eInga Clendinnen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and the author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLosing Streak\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBorn Bad\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eImperial Mud\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e1835\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, which was \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Age\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s 2012 Book of the Year.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"industry-reviews\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJames Boyce\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished November 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePaperback\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e416 Pages\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e234mm x 153mm\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eISBN: 9781760644765\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Black Inc.","offers":[{"title":"James Boyce","offer_id":59591890894929,"sku":"9781760644765","price":39.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0955\/6464\/files\/9781760644765.jpg?v=1780350155","url":"https:\/\/shop.mhnsw.au\/products\/origins-the-making-of-australia-17881825","provider":"Museums of History NSW","version":"1.0","type":"link"}