New Lives in an Old Land

Author(s): Bronwyn Davies

History

New Lives in an Old Land is a deep journey into the colonisation of New South Wales through the lives of Bronwyn Davies’s ancestors. Davies re-turns to historical events that most Australians would be familiar with, events that are re-animated in surprising ways in this book. Drawing on family lore, personal documents, photographs and following every possible trail of evidence, Davies moves beyond the silences and myths that are passed down, to confront the realities of colonisation and the part her forebears played in it. This book reveals the webs of connection across generations, unexpected continuities across time, even where people made strenuous efforts to make breaks. The people in this book come to life in ways that evoke compassion and empathy, refusing the judgement that slips so easily into historical work. Recognising the threads that bind past and present, Davies shows how we risk becoming ignorant of ourselves, and of what is to come when we forget our ancestors, the lives they lived and the passions that drove them. This book weaves a gripping and deeply moving account of migration, generation, of love and power, of aspiration and struggle, of ‘what it was to be’ her ancestors, each in the context of their time and place as they built new lives in this old land.


Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9780646997575
  • : Self Published
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Bronwyn Davies
  • : Paperback