Thursday, September 8, 2016

The Fatal Shore

Author: Robert Hughes
Stars: 3
Review by: Mandy Apgar

This was another one of those good but in a sad way. History is not always a happy thing and our forebears were indeed often total jerks. Case in point - all 600 odd pages of this for the most part. Famously started (for the most part) as a British penal colony, at the time that idea was bandied about Australia had already been settled for 30 thousand years! Not that the Aborigines' rights ever mattered much to those in power. Neglected, raped, mistreated, it is really disgusting to hear some of the things they were put through even aside of having their children literally stolen to be raised elsewhere. But there were some examples of kindness here and there - people begging to be sent with their beloved spouse, persons who dealt well with the Aborigines, early settlers in Sydney.
 

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