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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Interestingly written tale coupled with a description of the convicts' lives in the hulks and their work in the quarries near Sandridge and Williamstown, Victoria in 1856. Stresses the bestial nature of their lives. The hulks were the 'Deborah', 'Sacramento', 'Success', and the 'President'. Chief incident revolves around the escape of 5 convicts and their clever hiding places; the recapture of 4 and the mistaken arrest of the narrator returning from Captain Price's fancy dress ball in Melbourne dressed as a convict. His uncomfortable night in the hulks ends with his release in the morning. Unmistakable atmosphere of reminiscence, especially the introductory and concluding passages setting the author in the area - since become Spottiswoode, in 1888. Story itself has hallmarks of fiction. (PB)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Last amended 4 May 2004 15:21:05
Settings:
- Williamstown, Newport - Williamstown area, Melbourne - West, Melbourne, Victoria,
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