Melbourne was founded by unauthorised boat arrivals (or to use the contemporary term, ‘illegals’) who were breaking British law.

Melbourne’s mother island was not Britain but the notorious penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land.

Here’s an interview with James Boyce that appeared in the Herald Sun and another he did on ABC Radio National’s Late Night Live.Īnd to whet your appetite, here from the author himself is a dozen things you may not have known about the founding of Melbourne:

Here’s a review by Mark Rubbo from Readings. He conjures up the Australian frontier – its complexity, its rawness and the way its legacy is still with us today. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sydney and London, the key personalities of Melbourne’s early days, and the haunting questions raised by what happened when the land was opened up. In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. Ten years later, it had become a sea of red. Before the founding of Melbourne, British settlement on the mainland amounted to a few pinpoints on a map.

In defiance of authorities in London and Sydney, Tasmanian speculators began sending men and sheep across Bass Strait – and so changed the shape of Australian history. In 1835 an illegal squatter camp was established on the banks of the Yarra River. I’m therefore pleased to say the publisher, Black Inc., has made two copies available for readers of The Melbourne Urbanist. Here’s a summary:

I’ve read one or two others on the early years of Melbourne and it’s a fascinating period. I haven’t read James Boyce’s new book, 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia (RRP $44.95) yet, but but I’m planning to write a review in the near future. Courtesy of the random number generator at, the winners are Russell Pollard (My Brown Yarra by Margaret Roadknight ) and Justin Chieu (Chapel St by Something for Kate).

James boyce 1835