Books by David Andrew Roberts
he 1833 revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales (NSW), in which a small g... more he 1833 revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales (NSW), in which a small group of convicts conspired to attack the property and take the life of their master, was a sharp reminder of the fragility of law and order in the colony's remote farming and pastoral districts. In three expedited trials in December 1833, six men were twice capitally convicted of stealing from two dwelling houses, five of them also for shooting with intent to kill or for aiding and abetting an attempted murder. Five were subsequently hanged. 1 However, complaints aired by the defendants about 'bad treatment' at Castle Forbes, including insufficient and unwholesome rations, of 'frequent and severe' punishment and malfeasance in the local administration of justice, attracted high-level interest at a time of swelling preoccupation with scandalous abuses of power by peripheral elites. 2 Although the claims did not exonerate the conspirators, they prompted an inquiry into the management of Castle Forbes and the practices of local magistrates at Patricks Plains (Singleton). The evidence given by convicts, local settlers and government officials provides a unique window into the largely hidden world of relations between masters, magistrates and servants on the margins of the colony and a case study of how those relations could go terribly awry. 3 1 Contrary to popular assumption, they were not sentenced under the terms of the 'Bushranging Act' (2 Will 4, No. 9), which would have mandated their execution within forty-eight hours. One, acquitted of the charge of aiding and abetting an attempted murder, had his sentence commuted to life in irons on Norfolk Island. All six pleaded guilty to a third charge of stealing in a dwelling house. Two charges relating to other robberies were not prosecuted.
Turning Points in Australian History (2008)
‘If only’, ‘what if’ and ‘why didn’t we’ are phrases that often come to mind when we look back to... more ‘If only’, ‘what if’ and ‘why didn’t we’ are phrases that often come to mind when we look back to the past. This exciting and stimulating book looks back at turning points and crucial moments in Australian history. Rather than arguing that there have been forks on a pre-determined road, the book challenges us to think about other paths or better paths that might have led to different outcomes. It shows that a decisive event often becomes so only in retrospect and that what seemed like a major turning point at the time often had no real impact at all.
Great Mistakes in Australian History (2006)
Blunders, stuff-ups and misjudgments are a part of any country’s history. Dwelling on what might ... more Blunders, stuff-ups and misjudgments are a part of any country’s history. Dwelling on what might have been isn't always helpful, but recognizing our mistakes and learning from them is important. In this highly original and provocative book leading Australian historians attempt to do just that. Many stories, scenarios and situations are explored with verve, compassion and insight. The Great Mistakes of Australian History is a lively and provocative account of where we might have got it wrong, written so that next time we can get it right.
Articles by David Andrew Roberts
The 1833 convict revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales was a sharp remi... more The 1833 convict revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales was a sharp reminder of the fragility of law and order in the colony's remote farming and pastoral districts. It was followed by a government inquiry into the management of the estate and the practices of local magistrates at Patricks Plains (Singleton) which exposed the largely hidden world of relations between masters, magistrates and servants on the margins of the colony. While much has been said about the extraordinary political fallout of the revolt, this article takes a closer look inside the Castle Forbes estate to gleam some picture of both the broader atmosphere and immediate circumstances preceding the tragedy. The analysis includes new evidence of an extraordinary punishment regime in the lead up to the revolt. I demonstrate that while the revolt was the product of decayed labour and interpersonal relations, it also revealed structural and regulatory problems in the administration of the convict assignment system, particularly as arose from the role of local magistrates in arbitrating workplace disputes. Ultimately, the Castle Forbes revolt represented a rare and tragic malfunction in local governance.
The 1833 convict revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales was a sharp remi... more The 1833 convict revolt at Castle Forbes in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales was a sharp reminder of the fragility of law and order in the colony's remote farming and pastoral districts. It was followed by a government inquiry into the management of the estate and the practices of local magistrates at Patricks Plains (Singleton) which exposed the largely hidden world of relations between masters, magistrates and servants on the margins of the colony. While much has been said about the extraordinary political fallout of the revolt, this article takes a closer look inside the Castle Forbes estate to gleam some picture of both the broader atmosphere and immediate circumstances preceding the tragedy. The analysis includes new evidence of an extraordinary punishment regime in the lead up to the revolt. I demonstrate that while the revolt was the product of decayed labour and interpersonal relations, it also revealed structural and regulatory problems in the administration of the convict assignment system, particularly as arose from the role of local magistrates in arbitrating workplace disputes. Ultimately, the Castle Forbes revolt represented a rare and tragic malfunction in local governance.
The ‘illegal sentences which magistrates were daily passing’: The Backstory to Governor Richard Bourke's 1832 Punishment and Summary Jurisdiction Act in Convict New South Wales
Journal of Legal History, 2017
Recent literature has recast the history of the British empire as a vast project of intervention ... more Recent literature has recast the history of the British empire as a vast project of intervention in and reordering of colonial legal administrations. Closer inspection of local moments of legal reform, however, reveals substantial complications and contradictions in that project. This article re-considers Governor Richard Bourke's Punishment and Summary Jurisdiction Act 1832, the most celebrated legal intervention in the history of the ‘convict colony’ of New South Wales by a governor whose liberalism and humanitarianism epitomized the spirit of imperial reform agendas. The nature and objectives of Bourke's so-called Fifty Lashes Act are widely misunderstood. This article shows that while Bourke positioned his Act as a matter of legal urgency, its core aim was to render convict punishment more useful and economical. Moreover, Bourke's reforms were less innovative than is commonly assumed, being mostly required to re-assert and refine existing law that was being disregarded. Nevertheless, Bourke's reforms did address long-contested legal issues surrounding the summary jurisdiction of colonial magistrates and the local application of English transportation law. The backstory to the Act reveals the remarkably complicated and truly disordered state of the law in New South Wales, but this article also shows how the implementation of legal reform was seasoned with confusion and caution.
Exile in a Land of Exiles: The Early History of Criminal Transportation Law in New South Wales, 1788–1809
Australian Historical Studies, 2017
This article considers the peculiar application of English criminal transportation law in the ‘co... more This article considers the peculiar application of English criminal transportation law in the ‘convict colony’ of New South Wales during its foundation years. It demonstrates, first, that transportation was not intended to be within the sentencing jurisdiction of the New South Wales Court, but that it was adopted and practised nonetheless, with confused and incongruous results. In particular, substantial challenges emerged in applying colonial or local sentences to a population that was largely already under sentence of transportation. The result was a raft of innovations and inconsistencies that highlighted the legal and practical problems of performing exile in a land of exiles.
'Dissent and ill-discipline: The Newcastle Penal Settlement, 1804-1823', in J. Bennett, N, Cushing and E. Eklund (eds), Radical Newcastle, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney, 2015: 16-23.
"Convict William Geary was probably insane. The authorities at the Newcastle penal station certai... more "Convict William Geary was probably insane. The authorities at the Newcastle penal station certainly thought so. Sent to Newcastle indefinitely ‘during the Governor’s pleasure’ by the Parramatta Bench for absconding, he proved ‘unmanageable’ and ‘so very treacherous’ that when he stabbed two fellow prisoners in 1817 the Commandant returned him to Sydney, unsure if he should be tried or confined to a madhouse. When he was sent back to Newcastle, Geary absconded, vowing to hunt down an enemy and break into the houses of local settlers. He was flogged after being captured, and sent to the gaol gang, where he stabbed yet another prisoner. What was perturbing was that Geary attempted murder with the express aim of being returned to Sydney. So desperate was he to be released from the settlement that he was prepared to stand before the Criminal Court on a charge that could see him hanged, gambling on some leniency being shown on account of his mental state."
'New South Wales Penal Settlements and the Transformation of Secondary Punishment in the Nineteenth-Century British Empire', Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Issue 15.3 (Winter 2014),
This paper uses a comprehensive survey of sentencing patterns and penal regulations to demonstrat... more This paper uses a comprehensive survey of sentencing patterns and penal regulations to demonstrate the collapse of internal transportation in the colony of New South Wales into a system of extra-penal labour. It argues that a combination of judicial exigencies, local regulations, and creative misinterpretations of metropolitan penal reform turned the penal outpost established at Newcastle in 1804 into an experiment of interest to local and metropolitan reformers – an experiment that was rolled out throughout New South Wales, its peripheries, and in selected outposts of the British Empire after 1820.
(with Carol Baxter) Exposing an exposé: Fact versus fiction in the resurrection of Captain Thunderbolt'
In March 2010, the NSW Legislative Council passed a remarkable motion demanding the release of ar... more In March 2010, the NSW Legislative Council passed a remarkable motion demanding the release of archival records relating to the death of the bushranger, ‘‘Captain Thunderbolt’’, who was shot by police in the New England (NSW) in May 1870. The interest in this 140-year-old episode from the colonial past reflects a suspicion that the police shot the wrong man in 1870 and that the colonial authorities engaged in a high-level conspiracy to conceal this from the public. More seriously, it has been alleged that the NSW government actively maintained a strict censorship over secret documents that reveal the true circumstances of the bushranger’s death. Even more remarkable is the fact that the Legislative Council motion was employed to advance the claims made in an historical novel. This article considers the alternative account of Thunderbolt’s death presented in Gregory Hamilton and Barry Sinclair’s Thunderbolt: Scourge of the Ranges (2009), and investigates the allegations concerning the censorship of historical records in the service of an ongoing state and police conspiracy. We demonstrate that the case made in the novel, and promoted in the NSW Parliament, has been built on a misrepresentation of the nature and practice of state record-keeping in NSW.
The Australian Government's successful nomination of eleven 'convict sites' for World Heritage li... more The Australian Government's successful nomination of eleven 'convict sites' for World Heritage listing has again highlighted complex relationships between history and heritage. This article considers one convict site excluded from the nomination - the Coal River Heritage Precinct in the heart of Newcastle (NSW). While the site falls short of fulfilling conventional heritage criteria, the material remains having been so seriously eroded, its historical significance is nonetheless considerable. As historians, we believe its significance lies in what has been destroyed, as much as in what has survived, because the site evidences a process of adaptation and transformation over time. This theme of adaptation, we argue, is an instructive reflection of the legacies of Australia's convict past, but is not so well embodied by the successfully-nominated convict sites. Drawing on the lessons from this particular case study, we suggest that more progressive and adventurous approaches may be needed to adequately reflect the historical significance of Australia's convict inheritance.
This article aims examines the history of Threlkeld's lingnistic studies, exploring the climate i... more This article aims examines the history of Threlkeld's lingnistic studies, exploring the climate in which this remarkable work was undertaken and placing it within the context of his career as a missionary and an advocate of the Aboriginal cause.
Although labour and economic perspectives now seem integral to the study of convict Australia, fo... more Although labour and economic perspectives now seem integral to the study of convict Australia, for much of the twentieth century labour historians seemed to fi nd the subject distinctly unprofi table and inappropriate. Most histories tended towards a reductive view of convict work as inherently brutal and exploitative, while the key questions revolved around the moral character of the convicts and the possible cultural legacies of the convict era. Labour history perspectives were more effectively applied to the subject once the field had become shaped and inspired by the new social and cultural history, the result being a richer and more multifaceted picture of the management and experience of convict work, and of the plight of convicts as working people.
Precious but Partial? Some Comments on the Nomination of Australian Convict Sites for World Heritage Listing
This article considers the Australian Federal Government's recent series nomination of Australian... more This article considers the Australian Federal Government's recent series nomination of Australian convict sites for World Heritage listing. It applauds the Nomination as a worthy initiative, but notices some shortcomings in the UNESCO criteria that potentially limit the representation of Australian convict history through World Heritage listing.
Journal of Colonialism …, Jan 1, 2009
In July 1826, two Methodist gentlemen sat down for a tense meeting with the New South Wales Attor... more In July 1826, two Methodist gentlemen sat down for a tense meeting with the New South Wales Attorney-General, Saxe Bannister (1790-1877). The matter at hand was a controversy that had arisen from a venture undertaken by the WMMS on a remote penal establishment on the frontier at Wellington Valley in central-western NSW. In particular, there were questions to be answered about the conduct of a young missionary, John Harper, who was alleged to have publicly misrepresented the short-term results and long-term prospects for the evangelization of the Wiradjuri people native to the area ...
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Books by David Andrew Roberts
Articles by David Andrew Roberts