The Colony: a history of early Sydney

This book by Grace Karskens was published in 2009. The book provides a detailed account of the the development of the small settlement of 1788 into a town. The development of the surrounding areas is also described.

Chapter five - Seeding and Feeding - describes the development of private farming to encourage the convicts and former convicts to become self sufficient as well as providing food for general stores. The area around the Hawkesbury was a prime settlement for such a project. Karskens describes the challenges faced by the early European settlers as they struggled to make a new life in a strange land.

The river initially was the major road from Sydney to the new settlements though a track between Sydney and Windsor, later becoming a road, was constructed. A major challenge for the settlers in this area was the arrival of major floods which occurred regularly. The region was still part of a convict settlement which determined, to a large extent, what they could and could not do. The land farmed by the settlers had been aboriginal land and for many years the two groups struggled to co-exist. As eight of my convicts settled in this area, this chapter provides excellent background information of what it may have been like living in this region.

Copious notes for each chapter are recorded at the end of the book along with a useful bibliography. This is a book that I will certainly be referring to again for my family history research.