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Alex Graeme-Evans

The Trilogy Tasmanian Rogues and Absconders 1803 - 1875 is the latest work by Tasmanian Historian Alex Graeme-Evans. It provides us with a refreshing and vivid reappraisal of Tasmania's early beginnings as a penal colony of the then indomitable British Empire. Graeme-Evans writes with authority and purpose being himself the direct descendant of four prominent early pioneering families (Dr Edward Luttrell, Francis Evans founder of the Bank of Tasmania, Henry Clayton of Wickford Longford, and the Buxtons of Mayfield on the east coast).

In microcosm these four pioneering families alone over the past two centuries demonstrate what contributions Tasmania's native sons (be they European or Aboriginal), have made on the international stage. All four families gave freely of their fathers, sons, uncles, nephews, and brothers to represent Tasmania in wars on foreign soils, from the Maori, the Boer, and the First and Second World Wars, and even in the American Civil War. Many became casualties and never returned to their native soil, but their spirit lives on in the land; and in the many fine houses these families constructed which are now part of our National Estate.

This unique trilogy of Tasmanian history driven from such perspectives, and celebrating as it does to complement the text, the finest examples of our earliest colonial artists, should capture the heart and imagination of most readers.

Softcover; A4; 104pp