A lively history of the 'First Fleet' which took convicts from Britain to Australia in 1787; Sydney's early years as 'an open-air prison'; and the colonisation of New South Wales.
Tells the story of modern Australia begins in eighteenth-century Britain, where people were hanged for petty offences but crime was rife, and the gaols were bursting.
The story of modern Australia begins in eighteenth-century Britain, where people were hanged for petty offences but crime was rife, and the gaols were bursting. From this situation was born the Sydney experiment, with criminals perceived to be damaging British society transported to Sydney, an 'open air prison with walls 14,000 miles thick'.
Eleven ships were dispatched in 1781, and arrived in Australia after eight hellish months at sea. Tom Keneally describes the first four years of the 'thief colony' and how, despite the escapes, the floggings, the murders and the rebellions, it survived against the odds to create a culture which would never have been tolerated in its homeland but which, in Australia, became part of the identity of a new and audacious nation.
By the author of Schindler's Ark, since made into the internationally acclaimed film, Schindler's List.
Australia is lucky to have Keneally. Few writers have a public voice that one wants to take to the bedroom... He gets down and dirty with his characters form their perspective at the time... complex moderate and humane... likely to endure -- Nicholas Shakespeare Daily Telegraph
Evocative, broad-ranging and intelligently observed Mail on Sunday
Keneally has deployed his outstanding talents as a narrative writer to produce an enlivening, informative and judicious book about his country's troubled origins -- Barclay McBain Herald
Keneally has always had a grand talent for the telling of a tale. His rattling account of the genesis of his native city is one of his very best -- Carmen Callil The Times
The Commonwealth of Thieves is immaculately researched and historically exact... a great read and a useful scholarly resource....an account of an extraordinary event described with gusto and sympathy -- Kate Grenville Guardian
[A] beautifully written account of the foundation of New South Wales, complete with disastrous attitudes towards the "Indians" and a horrific account of the convicts' sea-crossing -- Martin Hoyle Financial Times
Elegantly written and solidly researched narrative... this is a fascinating study of a unique social experiment -- Saul David Sunday Telegraph
Keneally uses his novelist's skill to construct a lively mosaic from contemporary accounts of what today seems an utterly barbaric process -- Christian Tyler Financial Times
Tom Keneally's book offers an engaging treatment of a subject which over the years has provoked a long and sometimes heated debate -- Glyndwr Williams Times Literary Supplement
Thomas Keneally is married with two daughters and a grandson, and lives most of the year in Sydney, Australia. His numerous books include novels, memoirs and history. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, and won it in 1982 with Schindler's Ark since made by Steven Spielberg into the internationally acclaimed film Schindler's List.
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