The Secret Colony

By Anthony Tammett

The first European settlement in Australia was established at Sydney Cove in 1788 and, for many years, this British toehold on a continent, larger than Western Europe, was restricted to a few miles around Sydney.History has recorded that inland expansion from the infant colony was stopped by the seemingly impenetrable barrier of the Blue Mountains, which for a quarter of a century blocked all attempts to cross them. To the colonists, that part of Australia could well have been on the face of the moon - but history rarely tells the full story.To say that anything happening west of the continental divide - less than 100 miles away - was as remote as what was happening in Britain is an understatement. Although the journey to Europe took many months, news eventually did reach the colony. That could not be said about west of the mountains, as no route across them was known. The Secret Colony tells the story of the antagonistic relationship between Catherine Manning, an aristocratic young woman, and William Packer. Although obviously strongly attracted to William, Catherine also feels ambivalence and resentment towards him. When William is framed for forgery and transported to New South Wales, Catherine is determined to accompany her father, a naval officer, to the colony.In Sydney, Packer is implicated in an incident in which a soldier is killed and he is forced to flee the settlement with a group of convicts. No trace of the men can be found and they are presumed dead. Circumstances later reunite Catherine and Packer where the social positions of the two are reversed, and where they must grapple with the inevitable conflict engendered by their feelings for each other.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521971390
• ISBN13: 9781521971390
• Release Date: July 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 355 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"