The Convict's Daughter

The scandal that shocked a colony

By: Kiera Lindsey

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Paperback | 28 June 2017

At a Glance

Paperback
336 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 12.8 x 3.18

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A dramatic and fast-paced biography of a currency lass born to convicts who gained their freedom and then their fortune in 1840s Sydney. At the age of 15 Mary Ann Gill slipped out her bedroom window to elope with a gentleman settler, but when her father discovered his daughter's disappearance he pursued the couple and fired two pistols at his daughter's suitor, unleashing a national scandal.

One wet autumn evening in 1848, fifteen-year-old Mary Ann Gill stole out of a bedroom window in her father's Sydney hotel and took a coach to a local racecourse. There she was to elope with James Butler Kinchela, wayward son of the former Attorney-General. Her enraged father pursued them on horseback and fired two pistols at his daughter's suitor, narrowly avoiding killing him.

What followed was Australia's most scandalous abduction trial of the era, as well as an extraordinary story of adventure and misadventure, both in Australia and abroad. Through humiliation, heartache, bankruptcy and betrayal, Mary Ann hung on to James' promise to marry her.

This is a compelling biography of a currency lass born when convicts were still working the streets of Sydney. Starting with just a newspaper clipping, historian Kiera Lindsey has uncovered the world of her feisty great, great, great aunt, who lived and loved during a period of dramatic social and political change.

About the Author

Kiera Lindsey has a passion for Australian history. She lectures in Australian history at the University of South Australia, and was the winner of the inaugural Greg Dening Memorial Prize. She appears as an on-camera historian in a four-part series on Australian bushrangers for Foxtel's History Channel, 2017.

Industry Reviews

"'Archives, adventures, seduction and shipwrecks-The Convict's Daughter has it all.' - Lucy Bracey, Way Back When

'This is a ripper read and a great way of dealing with our history.' - Chris Wallace-Crabbe

'Unputdownable! I'm struck by Mary Ann's amazing audacity, and the way the book captures Sydney as a place so utterly brilliantly.' - Dr Catie Gilchrist, Dictionary of Sydney

'The Convict's Daughter might be called ""the new history""-highly readable, in fact, a compelling page-turner, but resting on solid scholarship.' - Babette Smith, The Sydney Morning Herald"

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