Anti-Slavery and Australia

Bringing the histories of British anti-slavery and Australian colonization together changes our view of both. This book explores the anti-slavery movement in imperial scope, arguing that colonization in Australasia facilitated emancipation in the Caribbean, even as abolition powerfully shaped the Settler Revolution.

Jane Lydon is the Wesfarmers Chair of Australian History at The University of Western Australia. Her research centres upon Australia's colonial past and its legacies in the present. She is interested in the ways that popular and especially visual cultures have shaped ideas and debates about race, identity and culture that persist today.

Introduction. 'An equal portion of liberty' 1. No slavery in a free land? 2. 'Poor creatures'. Antislavery and transportation, 1789-1807 3. In spite of all the Saints, 1807-1833 4. Abolition, systematic colonization, and the end of transportation, 1830-1840 5. Is not the New Hollander a man and a brother? Abolition and Genocide 6. Anti-slavery in Australia after Emancipation, 1834-1900. 'We but enliven labour with the lash' 7. Modern Slavery and Australia