Botany Bay : where histories meet

Maria Nugent
Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2005.

Are you a Monash author?

If you are:

a member of the Monash community; and
have published, or are about to publish a book.

Let us know about it by
emailing: authors@monash.edu.au

Borrow it: Monash University Library members can borrow this book. View the catalogue record for details.

Buy it: This book may be available from the Monash University Bookshop or purchased from amazon.com.

Book description
Botany Bay is renowned as the site of Captain Cook's first landing on the east coast of New Holland in 1770, infamous as the place chosen by the British as a dumping ground for convicts, and celebrated as the birthplace of Australia. In this remarkable history, Maria Nugent takes her readers on a journey to find what lies behind, beneath and beyond these familiar associations. Drawing on stories, objects, images, memories and the landscape itself, she collects the threads of other pasts to weave a rich, compelling and often surprising account. Local meanings jostle with national mythologies, Aboriginal remembrance disturbs white forgetting, the natural environment struggles for survival amid the smokestacks. In the process, Botany Bay becomes a site for meditating on questions of history, myth, memory and politics in Australia. Botany Bay: where histories meet explores the role both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal history-making plays in creating and sustaining local and national communities.

About the author
Dr. Maria Nugent is a Research Fellow in the School of Historical Studies at Monash University.

Need help? Library frequently asked questions and online enquiries: current students/staff | public users, online chat, or phone +61 3 9905 5054
Something to say? Use our online enquiry service to send us your feedback and suggestions: current students/staff | public users