Bedlam at Botany Bay / James Dunk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dunk, James, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mental illness--Australia--Botany Bay (N.S.W.)--History--19th century.

Mental illness.

Mentally ill--Australia--Botany Bay (N.S.W.)--History--19th century.

Mentally ill.

Penal colonies--Australia--Botany Bay (N.S.W.)--History--19th century.

Penal colonies.

Sydney (N.S.W.)--History--19th century.

Sydney (N.S.W.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (189 pages)

Place of Publication:

Sydney, New South Wales : NewSouth, 2019

Summary:

Madness stalked the colony of New South Wales and tracing its wild path changes the way we look at our colonial history.What happened when people went mad in the fledgling colony of New South Wales? In this important new history, we find out through the tireless correspondence of governors and colonial secretaries, the delicate descriptions of judges and doctors, the brazen words of firebrand politicians, and the heartbreaking letters of siblings, parents and friends. We also hear from the mad themselves. Legal and social distinctions faded as delusion and disorder took root — in convicts exiled from their homes and living under the weight of imperial justice, in ex-convicts and small settlers as they grappled with the country they had taken from its Indigenous inhabitants, and in government officers and wealthy colonists who sought to guide the course of European history in Australia.These stories of madness are woven together into a narrative about freedom and possibilities, unravelling and collapse. Bedlam at Botany Bay looks at people who found themselves not only at the edge of the world, but at the edge of sanity. It shows their worlds colliding

Contents:

There is a wildness

The liabilities of the sea

Madness and malingering

The 'lunatic asylum' at Castle Hill

The politics of a penal colony

Darling's suicides

After the rebellion

Wrongful confinement and irresponsible power

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version

ISBN:

1-74224-455-6