The Fatal Shore

The Fatal Shore is Robert Hughes’ gripping, award-winning account of the founding of Australia through the brutal system of convict transportation. In 1787, Britain began shipping men, women, and children to the farthest reaches of the empire – a journey that marked the birth of modern Australia and the creation of one of history’s harshest penal colonies. Vivid, authoritative, and deeply compelling, The Fatal Shore exposes the human cost of empire and gives voice to those whose lives were forever changed by it.