A New Life in our History: the settlement of Australia and New Zealand: volume II Paradise Found ? (1830s to 1890s)

by Justin Cahill

Overview

This is the second part of A New Life in Our History, an account of the settlement of Australia and New Zealand told from the perspective of ordinary people.

By the 1830s, reformers opposed to transportation were promoting a more enlightened solution to Britain’s social and economic difficulties: systematic colonisation. The focus of their work included New Zealand, ruled by the Māori and already home to the Laurie family.

Paradise Found covers the Laurie’s days at Kawhia, their dealings with the local Māori and how the differences between Māori and Pākehā expectations of British settlement ultimately led to war.

It also follows the experiences of a number of other settlers eager to try their luck in the new social paradise, including the Edwards, Lang, Nicholson, Biggar and Harland families.

The Langs were among the first settlers of Canterbury, arriving on the Randolph, one of the 'First Four Ships' to the new colony. The Nicholsons were rescued from the Highland Clearances and shipped to Victoria on the Georgiana. Their arrival during the gold rush sparked the infamous Georgiana Mutiny.

The Otago gold rush ultimately brought the Nicholsons to New Zealand. Gold, and the wars in the North Island, also brought the Edwards family to the South Island. They were eventually joined by the Biggars and Harlands. The Biggars personify the choice facing many immigrants: where to go ? The family of Catherine Biggar’s brother, Peter McKay, had chosen Minnesota, which turned into a war zone when the Sioux Wars erupted. The Biggars chose the more distant, but safer option of Otago. After initially settling in Victoria, the Harlands also came to Otago.

Paradise Found concludes with the arrival of the enigmatic Norwegian seafarer, Peter Petersen and how the Langs, having opened the Golden Fleece Hotel, found themselves firmly in the sights of the local prohibition movement.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940045851954
Publisher:	Justin Cahill
Publication date:	04/23/2014
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	254 KB

About the Author

Welcome to my Smashwords profile.

I am a New Zealand-born writer, based in Sydney. My main interests are nature and history.

My thesis was on the negotiations between the British and Chinese governments over the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. It was used as a source in Dr John Wong’s Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism and the Arrow War (1856-1860) in China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998, the standard work on that conflict.

I wrote a column on the natural history of the Wolli Creek Valley for the Earlwood News (sadly, now defunct) between 1992 and 1998.

My short biography of the leading Australian ornithologist, Alfred North (1855-1917), was published in 1998.

I write regular reviews on books about history for my blog,’ Justin Cahill Reviews’ and Booktopia. I’m also a regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's 'Heckler' column.

My current projects include completing the first history of European settlement in Australia and New Zealand told from the perspective of ordinary people and a study of the extinction of Sydney’s native birds.

After much thought, I decided to make my work available on Smashwords. Australia and New Zealand both have reasonably healthy print publishing industries. But, like it or not, the future lies with digital publishing.

So I’m grateful to Mark Coker for having the vision to establish Smashwords and for the opportunity to distribute my work on it.