Author: Gavin Souter Publisher: Xoum Publishing ISBN: 1922057029 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 577
Book Description
In 1893 almost 500 Australians set out by ship to plant a communist utopia in the heart of Paraguay. Led by socialist journalist and activist, William Lane, their aim was to realise the cherished Australian principles of equality and mateship. It was not to be. Expulsions and secessions began early; in mid-1894 Lane himself seceded with a loyal minority and founded Cosme, some forty-five miles south of the original settlement, but two years later the new colony had deteriorated and dwindled. Acclaimed historian Gavin Souter unravels the history of the New Australia movement, exploring the motivations and motives of its members, its organisation, the conflicts and dissension and the final disillusionment. He suggests a number of factors contributing to the venture’s failure, not the least being William Lane’s contradictory personality. Meticulously researched and based on countless interviews with descendants of the original settlers, A Peculiar People is a work of literary as well as historical value. Winner of the Foundation of Australian Literary Studies award, it brings the fascinating story of idealism, courage and human fallibility to vivid life. Reviews of A Peculiar People ‘The most complete, objective and altogether satisfying account – by turns ironic, sardonic, compassionate, frequently evocative and finally haunting.’ Australian Book Review ‘An excellent book, lively in its narrative and judicious in its interpretations.’ The Age ‘Souter … writes with admirable clarity and can make a story, period and cast of people come alive – exciting, absurd and gallant by turns.’ The Bulletin
Author: Peter Lambert Publisher: Duke University Press ISBN: 0822352680 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 497
Book Description
Hemmed in by the vast, arid Chaco to the west and, for most of its history, impenetrable jungles to the east, Paraguay has been defined largely by its isolation. Partly as a result, there has been a dearth of serious scholarship or journalism about the country. Going a long way toward redressing this lack of information and analysis, The Paraguay Reader is a lively compilation of testimonies, journalism, scholarship, political tracts, literature, and illustrations, including maps, photographs, paintings, drawings, and advertisements. Taken together, the anthology's many selections convey the country's extraordinarily rich history and cultural heritage, as well as the realities of its struggles against underdevelopment, foreign intervention, poverty, inequality, and authoritarianism. Most of the Reader is arranged chronologically. Weighted toward the twentieth century and early twenty-first, it nevertheless gives due attention to major events in Paraguay's history, such as the Triple Alliance War (1864–70) and the Chaco War (1932–35). The Reader's final section, focused on national identity and culture, addresses matters including ethnicity, language, and gender. Most of the selections are by Paraguayans, and many of the pieces appear in English for the first time. Helpful introductions by the editors precede each of the book's sections and all of the selected texts.
Author: Anne Whitehead Publisher: ISBN: 9781761280696 Category : Australians Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
"Part history, part travelogue, all riveting story, Paradise Mislaid is historian Anne Whitehead's award-winning account of her quest to discover the story of the 500 idealistic Australians who attempted to establish a socialist Utopia in the jungles of Paraguay at the end of the nineteenth century." -- Publisher's website.
Author: Adam Wakeling Publisher: Australian Scholarly Publishing ISBN: 1922454141 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 356
Book Description
In 1788, Great Britain founded a colony in Australia to swallow up its criminals. And swallow them it did – more than 160,000 men and women were transported to the Australian colonies over eight decades. Remarkably, these colonies swiftly developed into robust and innovative democracies. The 1856 Victorian election was the first in the world where voters took a government-printed ballot paper, took it into a private voting booth to fill it out, then put it in a ballot box. And Australians have kept this democratic model ever since. A House of Commons for a Den of Thieves is the story of how the citizens of these colonies threw off the stigma of their criminal origins and asserted their rights. Not only against imperial authorities in London but also those wealthy and powerful men in the colonies themselves who distrusted the idea of mass democracy. And through their success, they created a lasting democratic tradition that their descendants have expanded and built on up until the present day.
Author: National Library of Australia Publisher: National Library Australia ISBN: 9780642276209 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
National treasures from Australia's great libraries brings our national memory to life, for the first time showcasing more than 170 treasures that have helped define our nation -- where we come from, who we are and what sets us apart. Both a guide and a lasting record of a remarkable exhibition, this richly illustrated catalogue reveals the magnificent collections of Australia's National, State and Territory libraries.
Author: John Miller Publisher: Good Press ISBN: Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 235
Book Description
This novel is very useful for those wishing to understand the context of the rise of the union movement in Australia. The Workingman's Paradise is set in the context of the defeat of the shearers' and maritime workers' strikes of the early 1890s.
Author: Richard Francis Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN: 0300169442 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 418
Book Description
This is a definitive account of Fruitlands, one of history's most unsuccessful, but most significant, utopian experiments. It was established in Massachusetts in 1843 by Bronson Alcott (whose ten year old daughter Louisa May, future author of Little Women, was among the members) and an Englishman called Charles Lane, under the watchful gaze of Emerson, Thoreau, and other New England intellectuals. Alcott and Lane developed their own version of the doctrine known as Transcendentalism, hoping to transform society and redeem the environment through a strict regime of veganism and celibacy. But physical suffering and emotional conflict, particularly between Lane and Alcott's wife, Abigail, made the community unsustainable. Drawing on the letters and diaries of those involved, the author explores the relationship between the complex philosophical beliefs held by Alcott, Lane, and their fellow idealists and their day to day lives. The result is a vivid and often very funny narrative of their travails, demonstrating the dilemmas and conflicts inherent to any utopian experiment and shedding light on a fascinating period of American history.
Author: Harris Gaylord Warren Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre ISBN: 0822976374 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
A scholarly study of Paraguay in the decades dominated by the Colorados, immediately following the Allied occupation of the country after the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance, when half of Paraguay's population died. This period of rebirth saw the formal organization of Paraguay's major political parties, the Colorados and the Liberals, and the dominance of the Colorados until the Liberal revolution of 1904.
Author: Ben Stubbs Publisher: HarperCollins Australia ISBN: 0730497380 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 330
Book Description
In the wilds of Paraguay live blue-eyed South Americans with surnames like Smith and McCreen. This is the intriguing story of their ancestors, an idealistic Australian journalist called William Lane, and a colony called New Australia. In 1893, Australian journalist William Lane dreamed of creating a utopia where his socialist ideals could flourish, far away from his home in Queensland. He enlisted 238 followers and convinced them to sail across the Pacific with him to Paraguay, where he intended to create a paradise where brotherhood would be the order of the day and where hard work would reap its own rewards. And then reality set in. Expecting green and fertile fields, the New Australians found instead a dustbowl; expecting wine, women and song, they realised that their leader wanted them to remain abstemious and monogamous. this was not paradise but a kind of hell and Lane woudl face open rebellion from his followers. In 2010, Australian travel writer Ben Stubbs made his own trek to the wilds of central Paraguay to discover the remnants of New Australia and to search out the stories of those who stayed behind. He discovers a series of utopian colonies, including New Japan and New Germany, and their inhabitants, who lead strange double lives, caught between the countries they think of as home and the one they live in every day. Funny, unexpected and fascinating, this is an adventure travel story with a difference.
Author: Gavin Souter
Author: Peter Lambert
Author: Anne Whitehead
Author: Adam Wakeling
Author: John P. R. Eicher
Author: National Library of Australia
Author: John Miller
Author: Richard Francis
Author: Harris Gaylord Warren
Author: Ben Stubbs