Son of a Convict

Tom, an eight year old boy with his younger sister and convict mother, survive the privations of a female-only convict ship under a ruthless captain to arrive in the fledgling Colony of New South Wales. He will be part of the evolution of that Colony from penal settlement to democratic State. It was a time of lawlessness, bushrangers, and gold rushes, of ordinary people struggling to build a community in a land of droughts and floods. As well as the narrative of Tom's life and his deadly confrontation with outlaws, this book contains snippets of the important events in New South Wales between 1818 and 1862; such as the infamous acts of Governor Darling, bushrangers Donohoe, Gardiner and Peisley, the lives of newspapermen William Wentworth and Robert Wardell, the gold riots at Lambing Flat - and much more.