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Watkin Tench's 1788
- Narrated by: Grant Cartwright
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, World
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Publisher's Summary
Tench, a humble captain-lieutenant of the marines, arrived on the First Fleet, and with his characteristic understanding, humanity, and eye for detail, recorded the first four years of European settlement. This is a classic, lovingly edited and introduced by Tim Flannery, author of the best-selling The Future Eaters, Throwim Way Leg, and The Weather Makers.
Critic Reviews
"Tench will always remain the classic contemporary witness of our beginnings." (Les Murray)
"Tench's work is a stunning time machine." (Chloe Hooper)
More from the same
What listeners say about Watkin Tench's 1788
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ric Vatner
- 28-03-2022
When this was written it was contemporary, now it is hard core history
Early Australian history is really interesting but this is another level.
If you can imagine we discovered another planet and one of the members of the first expedition there wrote a memoir of their first impressions, of the difficulties in finding food, not knowing what lay over the hill and meeting a completely different community of people then you can appreciate what it is like to read this book.
Too little is known or understood about this period of our history both by new Australians or Aborigines and both would benefit enormously by reading this book.
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- KB
- 17-02-2021
A must for all Australians.
An extraordinary account of Australia’s first settlers. 1788 should be taught to all Australians and we should be proud of this history. Watkins Tench is a name that should be remembered for his honest view of life in the infancy of European settlement in Australia and the hardships endured by convicts, the indigenous and the settlers.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-09-2020
my favourite book
ticks all boxes. so well written and edited. do yourself a favour listen to this great account of our early history by a wonderful wordsmith
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- John
- 04-02-2020
amazing book
amazing book a must read for anyone who loves history . . . . .
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- Mwater
- 11-12-2019
Brilliant
I thought this was such a fantastic book!
If you love Australian history and wish to learn things you never knew this one is for you. To read a first hand account of the first years of Australian colonisation was fascinating.
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- Jon
- 18-07-2019
Returning as free on LibriVox
This book is freely available in LibriVox and Project Gutenberg.
Aside from foreword it’s on the internet.
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- David
- 17-06-2019
every Australian needs to read this
Tenches words are thoughtfully written. It gives a view of European settlement of Australia through the eyes of a Englishman.
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- Anonymous User
- 16-05-2019
A wonderful perspective of first settlement!
Lieutenant Tench's vocabulary and expression is two hundred years before our time. It took a while and quite a bit of concentration to get my head into his language. I suspect that reading this book would be even harder than listening to the audiobook. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed his perspective on the first fleet and first settlement and the authenticity of his language from that time enhances the story.
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- Connor Donaldson
- 29-04-2019
great historical journal
great to have an audio copy of this. I thought he spoke a bit to fast. had to drop the speed to .90
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- Inge Buchanan
- 15-01-2019
Great insight into early Sydney
Enjoyed it, very easy to listen to. Good insight into the thinking and attitudes of the first fleet, as well as an appreciation of the inhabitants, human, plant and animal
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- Jane
- 20-12-2011
A true classic
This is a must-read for those intrigued by the issues of creating a society from scratch. These are the diaries of one of the 800 soldiers taking part in the task of 11 small ships transporting 722 convicts (17 child convicts included) from England to Australia (8 months). What a scenario! Immediately upon landing they had to create shelter, establish food sources in a totally alien climate and soils as wells as deal with the immediately subjugated Indigenous people -- not to mention controlling the convicts. All this was effected with the minimal support from England who at one stage sent out more convicts rather than materials, and who became preoccupied with going to war.
Watkin Tench's diaries record his observations. What is so extraordinary about them, is that aspects read as if they were written today: Australia still hasn't really worked out an appropriate relationship with the greatly disadvantaged indigenous people; the British colonists imposed their own culture of housing and food source and today the environment, dominated by British land clearing and plant and animal pests, continues to impede this invasion. There are familiar themes around issues of law and order and social cohesion.
Tench was clear minded and compassionate (within the context of his culture) and wrote elegantly and succinctly. Professor Tim Flannery, the editor, is highly regarded Australian environmental commentator.
The tone of the reader is appropriate (though I think this was definitely one for John Lee) but it is poorly produced and deserved much better.
This book, enjoyable in itself, has resonances for other countries during the era of European invasion which planted the seeds of our modern world.
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- Marion
- 24-10-2011
A Dry subject made interesting
This was Australian history narrated in the voice of the author giving such concise details, it was easy to visualise what was happening in the earliest days. The Britishness of his oh so correct phrasing narrated oh so correctly made it a pleasure to listen to. I have always been in awe of the first settlers of my vast, arid country who survived incredible hardships in this upside down country compared to their lush and crowded own. The cultural shock is immense to this day but is such a contrast to the rest of the world and still emerging. Well worth a visit.
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