Pro Hart’s Legendary Tasmania

by Paul White

Rigby, 1982, [First Edition], ISBN 0727015397, full colour reproduction plates throughout, landscape hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping and chipping (See photographs)

“The stories of Tasmania’s early years are so strange, dramatic, and colourful that they read almost like legends.  In this book, the famous artist Pro Hart and the historian Paul White present a selection of paintings and stories which give vibrant glimpses into the early days of Van Diemen’s Land.
The extraordinary incidents and colourful characters include George Bass, who paved the way for colonisation by circumnavigating the island; John Bowen, who at the age of twenty-three formed the first settlement; Jorgen Jorgensen, a bizarre adventurer known as the ‘convict king’; Michael Howe, the bushranger who led a life of murderous crime and became so hated that after his death his head was displayed in Hobart Town; the more dashing bushrangers, Matthew Brady and Martin Cash, whose daring escapades and humane behaviour earned them aeration and sympathy; Alexander Pierce the escaped convict who turned cannibal; Richmond Gaol and Port Arthur where many convicts suffered brutal treatment; and the infamous ‘Black Line’, Governor Arthor’s attempt to round up the last surviving Tasmanian Aborigines.”

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