Van Diemen's Land

by James Boyce

'The most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore. In re-imagining Australia's past, it invents a new future.' Richard Flanagan (cover endorsement) Van Diemen's Land is a new, groundbreaking history of the settlement of Tasmania. James Boyce's book is filled with new facts and new ideas about one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of British colonialism. Combining environmental insights with an unrivalled grasp of the politics of the frontier, it will change the way scholars and the general public alike view Australian colonial history.

Genres: History, Australia, Nonfiction, Tasmania, Travel, British Literature, Modern

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

I am an independent writer and historian who lives in Hobart. I have written five major books. My first, Van Diemen’s Land, (2008) was described by Tim Flannery as ‘the first ecologically based social history of colonial Australia’ that was a ‘must read for anyone interested in how land shapes people’. 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia (2011), that reimagined the cultural and legal context for the conquest of the continent, was the Age Book of the year in 2012. Both colonial histories won the Tasmanian Book Prize and won or were short listed in multiple other national book awards. Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World (2014), was published in Australia as well as the US and the UK (the Washington Post described it as an ‘brilliant and exhilarating work of popular scholarship’.) More recently, Losing Streak: How Tasmania was Gamed by the Gambling Industry (2016), was long listed in the Walkley Book Award, short listed in the Ashurst Business Literature Prize and won the People Choices Category in the Premiers Literary Prizes, as well as contributing to public debate about gambling policy. In July 2020, my first English history book was released. Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens explores the resistance by local people to the drainage and enclosure of the wondrous wetlands of eastern England. It is the story of empire played out in the imperial homeland.
My books are serious history written for a general readership. While I don’t compromise on research, I also don’t assume prior knowledge. My aim is to write books that can be read and enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the subject. I believe that history does belongs to us all, because who we are, how we see the world and what future we imagine, is all shaped by the stories of the past.

Reviews

[David Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is history as it should be written. Boyce can write, a trait that is not universal among historians. This is the best history of Tasmania I have read.

[James Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting histories I've ever read, of one of the most interesting places I've ever been. This deserves a fuller review from me. But...time, time, time...

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Tasmania was once known as Van Diemen’s Land.’

And as Van Diemen’s Land, became the enforced home of 42% of the convicts transported to Australia. The island that became home to over 72,000 sentenced criminals had its own unique character, quite different from early New South Wales.

‘The fact that protein-rich shellfish were there for the taking, that wallaby and kangaroo could be killed with nothing more than a hunting dog, and that abundant fresh water and a mild climate made travel by foot relatively easy, does change the story. The convict’s hell was, thank God, a human creation alone. This book is about the tension produced by siting the principal gaol of the empire in what proved to be a remarkably benevolent land. It sees this paradox to be the heart of early Tasmanian history, and to have important implications for the nation as a whole.’

In this book, which is mainly focussed on the years between 1803 and 1856, James Boyce writes of a society, principally shaped by convicts and with its own distinctive pre-industrial culture. Geography mattered: with an abundance of game and fresh water, it was possible for a convict in possession of a single dog to ‘live independent and free in the bush’. There were also open grasslands suitable for grazing and it was these, in the hands of a few privileged land owners by the middle of the 19th century, which led to the formal renaming of Van Diemen’s Land as Tasmania in 1856. This renaming was seen as a way of distancing the island from its convict past and while not entirely successful, it had its own impact on the island’s history.

But Tasmania’s history is not only about British colonial administration, convicts, settlers and land-owners. When the first official British settlements were established between 1803 and 1807, there was a significant indigenous population. What happened to this population, both before, during and after the ‘Black War’ of 1828-31 makes for uncomfortable reading. There has been significant debate amongst historians about the numbers of Aborigines killed during this period, but regardless of the actual numbers of people killed the outcome was tragic -for the land as well as for the people. How? Large, destructive bushfires have become a part of Tasmanian life since Aboriginal burning ceased. Increased hunting of the Tasmanian emu rendered that bird extinct, and the Forester kangaroo was almost wiped out. Ironically, these are the two creatures that feature on Hobart’s coat of arms. And, in the southern Midlands particularly, trees began to die – probably killed by possums whose numbers exploded once they were no longer hunted by Aborigines. There’s a long appendix to this book: ‘Towards Genocide: Government Policy on the Aborigines 1827-38’ which is a sad and sobering read.

I like the notion of James Boyce’s book as an environmental history, exploring the relationship between the island and those who chose (or were forced) to live there. While the tragic fate of the Aboriginal tribes is a key part of this history, its primary focus is the first generation of predominantly convict settlers who shaped the island in the first half of the 19th century. Tasmania’s history is quite different from that of New South Wales, and this book provides an explanation for why this is so.

I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Australian colonial history or with a specific interest in the history of Tasmania.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Steve lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

On this island we have a Premier who would like his jurisdiction to be the food bowl of the nation, for it to regain the position it had, according to this fine historical tome, in the very first decades of the country's non-Aboriginal history. In Van Diemen's Land Boyce presents a somewhat alternate view to early Tasmanian history, one of a land benign and welcoming to all who came in those initial years, particularly if they aboded in the corridor between its southern and northern 'capitals'. From the the early times of kangaroo economy and unfettered convicts, through the 'neo-nannystate-ism' of George Arthur's stewardship to the bush dwellers versus the landed elite of the immediate pre-self-government era, the author illuminates the impact of the land on island circumstances, and points out our differences to accepted views, largely those linked with the mother colony.
En route we read tales of Michael Howe (the governor of the ranges), Tasmanian emus, the crossover of bush tucker,the importance of kangaroo dogs and of the lack of dingoes as well as of women ahead of their time. Whereas 'the stain' belongs to another era, the issue that Boyce leaves to last, an issue he claims to be still grossly under-examined (perhaps Boyce will build on this notion himself), is the sorry fate of the island's owners. This is a shameful story of war declared and frontier massacre, of brave Aboriginal warrior and invader greed. Boyce through his research has thrown light on this sorry history that should be indelibly imprinted on our national consciousness. Can the main street of Wynyard in my own stamping ground be truly named after a Van Diemen's Land Company official who shot an Aboriginal woman on a north west beach and then butchered her with an axe?
This is a must read for all those who love our beautiful island and its history. The work takes away some of the gothic without adding any gloss to our past. There is still much that is dark and sinister, but for many, as today, our stunning gem of the southern seas became a paradise compared to past existences.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that every Australian needs to read. Boyce has written a thought-provoking and confronting history on the connection between environment and colonial expansion in Tasmania during 1804 – 1856. By delving into the involuntary immigration of thousands of convicts, and with them the introduction of new species such as the European hunting dog and Bengal sheep, Boyce argues against the presumption that British settlers in Australia were at “constant adversity” with the land, and that the settlers in VDL (both free and convicted) thrived because of the abundance of resources available to them. He goes on to expand on how these factors later contributed to an influx of free-settler migration, inevitably resulting in a genocide of the Aboriginal people living on the island.

This is no doubt a book about how land shapes people, but also about what happens when people try to shape the land. It sheds light on some of the darkest beginnings of our country’s colonial history and I couldn’t recommend it enough, even if Australian history isn't something you usually read. And yes, you’re going to want to read the Appendix too.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful history of Tasmania up until 1851. Balanced and objective, Boyce sets out to show that Tasmania was a different experience for convicts and free settlers compared to the rest of the continent, and the interaction with its Indigenous inhabitants was also unique. How history should be written!

[Andrew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Australia is often told with an emphasis on continuity. An inevitable settler victory, an unwilling ignorant settler mismanagement, a reluctance to give up historic links. Perhaps this reflects the desire to establish a history by emphasizing consistency, perhaps it is a belief that nothing much of significance changed. Boyce offers a history that emphasises the significance of change, and in particular change shaped by the land itself.

Boyce's Van Diemen's Land is a land where the Settlers find themselves in a lush old-world type environment that offers as much feast as the settlers at Port Jackson faced famine. The extensive grasslands and abundant wildlife enable the island to become the second largest colony in the country. Social norms also develop in a very different way. The convicts are largely allowed - at least in the first few decades - to roam and work as servants, with many establishing a virtually independent life out in the bush. In time, the Free settlers would come, Port Arthur would be built, and this earlier way of life extinguished, but it's a powerful history of contingency, chance and what if.

This is a joyful history to read. Boyce is a fine writer, and though he does not try for any stirring heights, he never lags either. Within the chapters there are many side essays and sub-heading sections denoting specific areas of focus. A useful device for width without sacrificing coherence. The connected theme throughout is the effect of the land shaping the people, and in turn, the people shaping the land.

One element of this book that surprised me was the short treatment of the Frontier Wars. Boyce is certainly sensitive to the conflict between the First Nations and Settler populations. And in stressing the theme of change he shows how the nature of the conflict changed regularly. The relative sparsity of violence early on, the growth as competition for key resources grew, the shift to active guerrilla conflict - at a level of violence against the settlers unseen anywhere on the mainland - and the final tragic end. Yet moments that Nick Clements highlights such as the Black Line Operation are not covered. This isn't a complaint. No book can or should try to cover everything. But i was surprised that a major military operation that was inherently absurd due to the nature of the land itself was not a key story.

Van Diemen's Land isn't just a 'history of Tasmania'. It's a fine history of early Australia. It shows just how diverse, vibrant and non-linear the first few decades were. The story of this country is not the deterministic story we are often blandly presented with. In recovering these moments for one small part of the country, Boyce has helped open up the space for change everywhere else.

Recommended.

[Kris McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a worthwhile addition to the works on the early history of what is now called Tasmania. With a primary focus on the first generation of invaders - both convicts and colonisers - while somewhat saddened to find that it is a bit light-on in detail on the island's original inhabitants, the brief glimpse we get is sound.

Of more central focus, Boyce explores the significance of the convict presence to the evolution of Van Diemen’s Land. He helps explain the strange Weltanschauung that compelled a tiny group of landowners to expunge both convict and Aboriginal from the formal records and popular memory.

Such efforts - including the renaming of the island to Tasmania in 1856 - were not without success. However, I think that Boyce is correct when he observes that "Van Diemen's Land never vanished but, by edict of an embarrassed ruling class, it went underground."

I particularly appreciated the effort made to explore the impact of the environment on establishing the colony and vice versa. For example, the speed with which small bands of settlers and convicts managed to establish themselves at the expense of Aboriginal inhabitants and the native fauna is shocking in hindsight. Similarly, the extent of the lawlessness of bushrangers and the brutality of Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur's brutal assault on the Aborigines surprised me.

Indeed, the book provides an essential exploration of the environmental impact of displacing the original custodians. Populations of feral dogs eliminated the native emu and severely dented other vulnerable species. The end of managed burns led to more damaging bushfires and the further penetration of invasive weeds and introduced trees.

I want to draw attention to the lengthy appendix to this book: "Towards Genocide: Government Policy on the Aborigines 1827-38", a sad and sobering read that should be compulsory to all Tasmanians. If they are not providing this to high school students we are not fair dinkum about learning from history.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

[Sally O'wheel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very different history of Tasmania than I have read before because it focusses on the environment. I learned how in the first 20 years convicts were able to live on the land and feed themselves, eat better than they had in England. The open grassland was full of kangaroos and emus. They had dogs and Tasmanian animals were not adapted to deal with dogs as we don't have dingos. Gradually as more settlers arrived the convicts' land was taken from them and they were more controlled by the authorities. I learned how richer settlers took over the best land and ex convicts were relegated to the edges of the forests where they continued a subsistence existence. They still had knowledge of the idea of the 'common'.

The appendix has a very good section on Aborigines and the horrors of their experience of white invasion, especially the role of George Augustus Robinson.

This book has greatly added to my understanding of Tasmanian history.

[Andrew Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched account of British settlement in Tasmania. The contents focus on the social history of the island, and interaction between the convict and free settlers communities. The island, free of canine population, was transformed with the white people bringing their dogs and hunting kangaroos and native emus almost to extinction. The grants of land to freed convicts and free settlers encroached Aborigine hunting grounds and their increasing resistance. With Aborigines successfully using fires to destroy the settlements, the government declared martial law in 1830 and official roving parties were established to fight Aborigines. A five pound reward was paid for every adult Aborigine delivered alive to the authorities (a reward of two pounds for a child). In 1832 the authorities decide to banish all surviving natives to the Flinders Island, where they die shortly after.

[Ian Tymms · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word: devastating. I knew a little about the violence that accompanied aboriginal disinheritance in Tasmania but I had no idea of the scale of deceit and deception. The deliberate flaunting if British government policy by colonial governor Arthur and the self-serving conceit of Robinson - the protector of Aborigines - were completely unknown to me. It's a terrible history which should be better known. And I wonder how much unresolved fear, guilt and hatred still festers in the cultural inheritance of Tasmanians.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really superb and well written book with tons of information. If you have a keen interest in Australian history, Tasmania or British colonialism, look no further. Can only thank James Boyce for his effort here as it was very enlightening.

The details around the genocide of the Aboriginal people was quite disturbing.

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. perfect balance of accessible and comprehensive. very engaging for non-fiction. one main criticism is that it tip-toes around the condition of women at the time. going to cascades female factory myself, i know how hard women had it and the threat of abuse, especially sexual, not just from the authorities but fellow convict men, was rife. the researchers and guides at the factory say “the only class below convict women in van diemen’s land was aboriginal people.” how hard convict women had it is alluded to in the book but is nowhere near explained, focused on, enough. not enough to tell the story of van diemen’s land properly. obviously the top classes were the worst, but omitting the treatment of convict women by all men, high class and convict men, as well as high class women, on the island, doesn’t paint an honest enough picture. overall the explanation of aboriginal status and treatment was okay but even then more was alluded to than explicitly stated, as if to spare the gory details - details much needed in order to tell the truth.

[Caleb Bear · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I never would've picked up on my own initiative, but that I'm glad I read.

Boyce combats nationalistic narratives that suggest that colonisers were 'battling against an unforgiving landscape' or encountered an Edenic 'holy land'. Instead, he highlights how Tasmania's environment provided both risk and opportunity, especially for the convicts and impoverished people who shaped modern Tasmania. Boyce then demonstrates how wealthy free settlers gradually overrode earlier convict claims to land and transformed Tasmanian colonial society into one that was crueler to prisoners, women, and people of lower socioeconomic status.

While the book is a colonial history, Boyce foregrounds Indigenous responses to and suffering due to colonisation. Notably, the appendix heartbreakingly details the colonial government's genocidal policies. The book made me keenly aware of what could have been, with glimpses of a colonial society which learned from Indigenous practices and condemned invasion and genocide.

[Avril · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, I haven’t thought much about the history of Tasmania. I’ve assumed that it was like the history of the rest of Australia. Boyce makes it clear that that wasn’t the case. Tasmania, when it was Van Diemen’s Land, was a land of abundance rather than harshness, in which it was easy for people to live off the land and convicts could retreat to the bush and find food and shelter there. But it’s depressing to read about how quickly the incursion into Tasmania of the British affected its ecology, and the animals that no longer exist. It’s also deeply, DEEPLY, depressing to read the attempts by the British to free Tasmania of indigenous people, even when there was an alternative possibility of coexistence. A wonderful book; I learned a lot.

[Andrew Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a fresh understanding for the origins of Tasmania and the importance of the interplay between the environment / land and the various characters that inhabited it. A good read to understand that the experience of convicts / colonists was very different and depending upon the land that awaited them in the different parts of Australia.

The appendix throws up some questions on treatment of Aboriginals that will need answering.

A good read - about to read the Author's other book on Melbourne next.

[Kamil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The founding of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), one of the first British colonies in Australia, is a story of exploitation - of the natural environment, indigenous people, and the convict class. Although this took on a unique form shaped by the island's conditions, it is difficult to ignore the effect on the character of broader Australian society. Boyce's well-researched and engaging history explains the origins of mistaken ideologies that still govern today. Reading this, one cannot help but feel ashamed of this country's past and, even more so, frustrated by its present.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree with Tim Fannery, "a brilliant book". I also share James Boyce's belief "that history does belongs to us all, because who we are, how we see the world and what future we imagine, is all shaped by the stories of the past". This book is a must read for anyone interested in Tasmania's history.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Van Diemen's Land

A fascinating and harrowing history of the foundation of modern day Tasmania. Hard to read in places (being a British Australian myself), this book is full of detail without being overwhelming and provides great insight into the colonisation if Australia in the 19th centure

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ye Olde Tasmania

This brings to early days in Van Diemans Land into perspective... a cruel society where the rich and strong ruled with iron fists and the others were treated with disdain and contempt. The “war” against the Aborigine was atrocious and beggars belief.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The British Empire committed genocide in Tasmania and yet no one has ever been charged, tried or convicted for it. No apology has been made. This was not an easy read, but I am very grateful it exists. Our history is blood-soaked.

[Ned Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book on the early days of Van Diemen’s Land with admirable support of dates and figures. Though told through the records of the British the book is primarily about the plight of the aborigine after British arrival. The coverage finishes just after the inception of the horrifying Port Arthur penal facility, consequently that is mentioned in name only.
The reader could be excused for thinking the early day convict of Van Diemen’s Land was probably better off than he was back in England because he was free to roam and seek paid employment. But not so fortunate were the aborigines who reacted unfavourably to the white man taking his land and food. The trouble resulted in the near extermination of the aborigine by the mid 1830’s and total extermination by 1876.

[Roger Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of historical scholarship. I can't praise this book too highly.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative, but not totally engaging.

[Alister · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly absorbing read and thorough rebuttal of The Fatal Shore.
All Tasmanian and indeed Australian people should read this.

[Beatrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read to help understand the true colonial history of Tasmania....... sadly much of the privileged white mans attitudes & actions still remain to day.....

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This superb history filled in the large gaps in my knowledge about the early years of my adopted country's occupation by colonists and brought the times and the place to vivid life.

[Caro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! This book should be taught at all levels of education. Period.

[Maurice Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this brutal history of Tasmania. Very different to the mainland experience. The founding of Melbourne by Tasmanian convicts is interesting.

[Tom Davenport · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in the Salamanca markets from Boyce himself.
As a tasmanian I found this book refreshing. It adds a different perspective on colonial life on the island. Instead of being a desolate and harsh place it puts forward the argument that instead it was bountiful and the breadbasket of the national colony. As a local this is understandable and appealing. Worth reading.