Botany Bay : The Real Story

For the first time in 200 years, the full and authentic account of the birth of Australia. We all know the conventional version of Australia's early days. Established as a prison colony, the story goes, this country owes its existence simply to overcrowded English jails and its daunting remoteness from everywhere else. In Botany Bay: The Real Story, Alan Frost digs deeper and sheds new light on the decision to start a colony in Australia. He examines the impact of the American War of Independence and Britain's shifting strategic aims, the role of ministerial incompetence and ambition, and the concerns of a turbulent society obsessed with law and order. In doing so, he questions several accepted ideas about how and why Britain set its sights on an Australian colony. In the years before the First Fleet set sail, Frost reveals, various destinations were seriously considered: West Africa, Central America and New Zealand. In settling on Sydney, the British hoped not merely to be rid of convicts, but also to secure a key strategic outpost and to gain control of the valuable natural resources of the Pacific. The culmination of thirty years' study of previously neglected archives, Botany Bay is a groundbreaking work, offering new and surprising insights into how Australia came to be.

Alan Frost is a professor of history at La Trobe University, Melbourne. His previous books include The Global Reach of Empire, Voyage of the Endeavour, Arthur Phillip and Botany Bay Mirages.