Australasian and Pacific history Books

Book SynopsisWhen World War II ended, the men who fought and died were not forgotten -- but what of their wives and families? For the War Widows Guild, the fight for rights and recognition had just begun. This is the story of a courageous group of women who made a difference to the lives of Australias war widows of yesterday and today.

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Book SynopsisThe focus of Richard Zgusta’s The Peoples of Northeast Asia through Time is the formation of indigenous and cultural groups of coastal northeast Asia, including the Ainu, the “Paleoasiatic” peoples, and the Asiatic Eskimo. Most chapters begin with a summary of each culture at the beginning of the colonial era, which is followed by an interdisciplinary reconstruction of prehistoric cultures that have direct ancestor-descendant relationships with the modern ones. An additional chapter presents a comparative discussion of the ethnographic data, including subsistence patterns, material culture, social organization, and religious beliefs, from a diachronic viewpoint. Each chapter includes maps and extensive references.

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Book SynopsisThis essay deals with the missionary work of the Society of Jesus in today’s Micronesia from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. Although the Jesuit missionaries wanted to reach Japan and other Pacific islands, such as the Palau and Caroline archipelagos, the crown encouraged them to stay in the Marianas until 1769 (when the Society of Jesus was expelled from the Philippines) to evangelize the native Chamorros as well as to reinforce the Spanish presence on the fringes of the Pacific empire. In 1859, a group of Jesuit missionaries returned to the Philippines, but they never officially set foot on the Marianas during the nineteenth century. It was not until the twentieth century that they went back to Micronesia, taking charge of the mission on the Northern Marianas along with the Caroline and Marshall Islands, thus returning to one of the cradles of Jesuit martyrdom in Oceania.Trade Review“This impressively erudite essay provides a condensed but informative history of Jesuit missionary engagement in Micronesia.” John Barker, University of British Columbia. In: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 72, No. 1 (2021), pp. 200–201. “Alexandre Coello de la Rosa offers a brief history of the Jesuit missions in Micronesia from arrival in the Marianas Islands in 1668 to the conclusion of World War II in 1945. The fifteen high-quality images, sixteen sections, over four hundred footnotes, and a bibliography of fourteen pages made for an instructive narrative. I recommend this book as an overview of the Jesuits in Micronesia. In addition, Coello’s wide use of scholars of Pacific Islands studies has much to teach a worldwide audience. The author introduces the global mission of the Society of Jesus and “global modernity in the Iberian colonial empires,” connecting histories of the Jesuits from the Pacific Ocean to Atlantic histories, the Spanish monarchy, and world history, all in a worthy endeavor.” James B. Tueller, Brigham Young University, Hawaii. In: Journal of Jesuit Studies, Vol. 7, No. 4 (2020), pp. 673–675.Table of ContentsIntroduction The Arrival of the Jesuits in the Philippines The Marianas as Part of the Universal Christian Project Gathering Souls at the Margins of the Spanish Empire To Retain or Abandon the Marianas? Corruption, Greed, and Misgovernment New Spiritual and Geopolitical Configurations The Baroque Theater of Power Lights and Shadows: The Virgin of Our Lady of Light A New Foothold in the Nineteenth-Century Carolines Twentieth-Century Jesuits at the Crossroads of the New Pacific World Empires Chuuk Yap Palau and Pohnpei The Marshall Islands Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis book re-turns to the colonisation of New South Wales through the lives of the author’s ancestors. By looking hard and listening carefully, by being prepared not to look away, and at the same time, by delving with love into the specificity of those ancestral lives, this research entangles the author, and the reader, in the acts of colonisation that are taken for granted in their present day lives. Through letters, journals, photos, portraits, newspaper clippings and official records, the author re-turns to the spacetimemattering of colonial lives. She finds the means to re-think the scarifications of the present, of people and landscapes. Bringing concepts from Deleuze and Barad, among others, she re-thinks the way history might be done. "New Lives in an Old Land is an extraordinary book of narrative scholarship in relation to the great global colonisation of the world in the eighteenth century. It traces the origins of the settler colonial establishment of Australia through the major historic events of the time, such as the Irish uprising, the American revolution and the fierce wars for land and culture in Scotland, that led to extreme poverty and displacement of large numbers of people. Through a delicately narrated family history Bronwyn Davies teases out the threads of complex networks of entanglement that produced the numerous lives through which she interprets the coming of settlers to the Australian colony. Not shying away from the horrendous impact on the Aboriginal custodians who had cared for the land for tens of thousands of years, or the brutal treatment of convicts on whose labour the settlement was built, the book looks unstintingly at the complex characters involved in this entanglement. In its forward-looking possibilities, it is essential reading for all Australians who struggle to comprehend the ethical, social and environmental challenges of this land". Margaret Somerville, Professor, Western Sydney University. "Bronwyn Davies’ New Lives in an Old Land has ambitious, glorious, scope. The book spans centuries; it traces and re-traces its protagonists’ arduous, sometimes violent, journeys across the oceans; and it addresses the micro- and macro-politics that infuse, shape, and are shaped by, actions and actors. The book, however, is also a work of profound intimacy, in which the author takes the reader into hers and her ancestors’ worlds, “re-imagin[ing] the vital specificity of their lives”. Compelling, provocative, and scholarly, Davies’ book is joyously impossible to categorise, a historico-literary-theoretical portrayal of family, social and political life". Jonathan Wyatt, Professor, University of Edinburgh. "New Lives in an Old Land is a deep journey into the colonisation of New South Wales through the lives of Bronwyn Davies’ 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". Johanna Wyn, Redmond Barry Distinguished Emeritus Professor, The University of Melbourne. "New Lives in an Old Land is a gift to readers. There are astonishing insights about ancestors whose lives are intertwined with people today. But, more than this, Bronwyn Davies has used the much-lauded writing skills she has developed over a lifetime to create a ground-breaking shift in the way history can be written. These subtle and audacious moves offer new ways to grapple with old contradictions within Australian history. While writing this book, Bronwyn discovered that her family emerged from a tangled romantic conjunction of convicts exiled to 'terra nullius' and affluent entrepreneurs from England, Wales, Denmark and beyond. These people of different social origins, who might never have met in their countries of origin, were thrown together in this land that claimed to be 'new' while failing to acknowledge the ubiquitous presence of the indigenous peoples already in place. The book brings these ancestors to life with their own words (evidence that writing talent goes back a long way in this family) supplemented by a haunting archive of photographs. These diverse stories give the reader poignant insights into the doubts and angst early colonists experienced as they carried out sometimes horrendous acts of appropriation and even murder, acts that had direct resonance with earlier experiences in countries such as Ireland. This alternative history rattles the comfort of long-held clichés about the founding and flowering of European life in this 'great southern land'. These ancestors often knew what they were doing and, as we come to grips with this insight, we have to wonder how our descendants will view us". Lise Claiborne, Professor at Waikato University, New Zealand.Trade Review"New Lives in an Old Land is an extraordinary book of narrative scholarship in relation to the great global colonisation of the world in the eighteenth century. It traces the origins of the settler colonial establishment of Australia through the major historic events of the time, such as the Irish uprising, the American revolution and the fierce wars for land and culture in Scotland, that led to extreme poverty and displacement of large numbers of people. Through a delicately narrated family history Bronwyn Davies teases out the threads of complex networks of entanglement that produced the numerous lives through which she interprets the coming of settlers to the Australian colony. Not shying away from the horrendous impact on the Aboriginal custodians who had cared for the land for tens of thousands of years, or the brutal treatment of convicts on whose labour the settlement was built, the book looks unstintingly at the complex characters involved in this entanglement. In its forward-looking possibilities, it is essential reading for all Australians who struggle to comprehend the ethical, social and environmental challenges of this land". Margaret Somerville, Professor, Western Sydney University. "Bronwyn Davies’ New Lives in an Old Land has ambitious, glorious, scope. The book spans centuries; it traces and re-traces its protagonists’ arduous, sometimes violent, journeys across the oceans; and it addresses the micro- and macro-politics that infuse, shape, and are shaped by, actions and actors. The book, however, is also a work of profound intimacy, in which the author takes the reader into hers and her ancestors’ worlds, “re-imagin[ing] the vital specificity of their lives”. Compelling, provocative, and scholarly, Davies’ book is joyously impossible to categorise, a historico-literary-theoretical portrayal of family, social and political life". Jonathan Wyatt, Professor, University of Edinburgh. "New Lives in an Old Land is a deep journey into the colonisation of New South Wales through the lives of Bronwyn Davies’ 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". Johanna Wyn, Redmond Barry Distinguished Emeritus Professor, The University of Melbourne. "New Lives in an Old Land is a gift to readers. There are astonishing insights about ancestors whose lives are intertwined with people today. But, more than this, Bronwyn Davies has used the much-lauded writing skills she has developed over a lifetime to create a ground-breaking shift in the way history can be written. These subtle and audacious moves offer new ways to grapple with old contradictions within Australian history. While writing this book, Bronwyn discovered that her family emerged from a tangled romantic conjunction of convicts exiled to 'terra nullius' and affluent entrepreneurs from England, Wales, Denmark and beyond. These people of different social origins, who might never have met in their countries of origin, were thrown together in this land that claimed to be 'new' while failing to acknowledge the ubiquitous presence of the indigenous peoples already in place. The book brings these ancestors to life with their own words (evidence that writing talent goes back a long way in this family) supplemented by a haunting archive of photographs. These diverse stories give the reader poignant insights into the doubts and angst early colonists experienced as they carried out sometimes horrendous acts of appropriation and even murder, acts that had direct resonance with earlier experiences in countries such as Ireland. This alternative history rattles the comfort of long-held clichés about the founding and flowering of European life in this 'great southern land'. These ancestors often knew what they were doing and, as we come to grips with this insight, we have to wonder how our descendants will view us". Lise Claiborne, Professor at Waikato University, New Zealand.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations Prologue PART 1: Picking at the Skin of Silence: Stories of My Parents and Grandparents 1 Growing up at 98 Upper Street 2 Alice (Al) Nivison and Euston Blomfield 3 Norma Nivison Blomfield 4 Jean Carty and George William Hope Davies 5 Thomas Alfred Davies (Tom) PART 2: Of Princes, Paupers and Soldiers: Stories of My Father’s Family 6 Rodri Mawr, King of All Wales 7 Danish Princes and Princesses 8 David Campbell and the Bushrangers 9 From Soldier to Farmer to Magistrate: Thomas Alfred Davies and Maria Louisa Campbell 10 Small Selectors: Margaret Miles and Michael Carty PART 3: Of Judges and Surveyors, Sailors and Soldiers, Convicts and Farmers: Stories of My Mother’s Family Introduction to Part 3 11 The First Fleet. David Collins: Buried in Oblivion? 12 The Irish Uprising: Thomas Blomfield in Ireland 13 Richard Brooks: A Tragic Journey 14 Thomas Valentine (Val) Blomfield: At War with Napoleon 15 Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen’s Land: David Collins and His Descendants 16 Opening Up the Interior of New South Wales: William Cox 17 A Woman’s View of the Colony: Christiana Brooks 18 From Soldier to Farmer: Thomas Valentine and Christiana Jane Brooks 19 Deputy Surveyor General: Samuel Perry and Surveying and Mapping the Land 20 From Scottish Tenant Farmers to Landed Gentry: Mary Wightman and Abraham Nivison Epilogue Appendix 1 Appendix 2 References Index of Authors Index of Subjects

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