01964 2200229 4500 9781741666137 321371 eng eng AUS [S.l] Commonwealth of Thieves : The Sydney Experiment LIV Tom Keneally [S.l] Random House australia 2007 1 vol. 509 p. ill. 20 cm Texte d'origine Ecoutez le texte source In 1787, Britain banished its unwanted citizens - uneducated petty thieves, streetwalkers, orphan chimneysweeps and dashing highwaymen - to the fringes of the known world. So remote was Botany Bay - the destination to which the overcrowded, disease-ridden convict ships were bound - that only one European expedition had ever before anchored there. Yet the rejects of Britain, accompanied only by a flimsy complement of soldiers, marines and officers, were expected to start a settlement and flourish. It was an audacious social experiment, unparalleled before or since. To the indigenous inhabitants, the white men came as ghosts through cracks in the cosmos, rudely seizing the bounty of land and sea. On the swampy shores of Botany Bay, and by the sandstone coves of Sydney Harbour, the clash of civilisations was ineviteable, intense and often tragic. From this improbable beginning, through famine, drought, escapes and floggings, the glory of modern Sydney was born. Britain's penal experiment succeeded against all odds. Impeccably researched and told in the inimitable Keneally style, THE COMMONWEALTH OF THIEVES is the compelling tale of a nation's beginning, its unforgettable people and their quest for identity. 9781741666137 Déportation Australie 994 KEN Keneally Tom FR MO 20121211 MO MEDOUEST MEDOUEST 90591123 A90 994 KEN 2012-12-11 00:00:00 0 ADO