The Award-Winning History of Colonial Melbourne
‘James Boyce tells the true history of this country with rare clarity and an eye for the essential that never fails.’ —David Marr
With the founding of Melbourne in 1835, a flood of settlers began spreading out across the Australian continent. In three years more land – and more people – was conquered than in the preceding fifty.
In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sydney and London, and describes the key personalities of Melbourne’s early days. He conjures up the Australian frontier – its complexity, its rawness and the way its legacy is still with us today. And he asks the poignant question largely ignored for 175 years: could it have been different?
With his first book, Van Diemen’s Land, Boyce introduced an utterly fresh approach to the nation’s history. ‘In re-imagining Australia’s past, ‘ Richard Flanagan wrote, ‘it invents a new future.’ 1835 continues this untold story.
‘Anyone who calls Melbourne home – in fact anyone who calls Australia home – should read this book.’ —Peter Mares
‘A first-class piece of historical writing. Boyce is a graceful and robust stylist and a fine storyteller.’ —Sunday Age
‘Revisionist … unequivocal … sobering’ —Malcolm Turnbull
Winner of the 2012 Age Book of the Year Award, the 2012 Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award and the 2013 Tasmania Book Prize
Shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the WA Premier’s Book Awards, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards and the Tasmanian Literary Prizes.
About the author
James Boyce is an acclaimed, multi-award-winning historian whose books have been shortlisted in most Australian literary awards. His first book, Van Diemen's Land, was described by Richard Flanagan as 'the most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore'. He is also author of Losing Streak, Born Bad, Imperial Mud and 1835, which was The Age's 2012 Book of the Year.