Democracy in the 1850s was felt to be fragile and uncertain. At any moment, the rhetoric of the Legislative Council and Assembly tells us, the rights obtained by the citizenry might be thwarted by the cunning manoeuvres of the English crown.
Such rhetoric would shape how colonial New South Wales viewed criminal law. Across the colony, desultory clerks filled sheets of paper with the words of victims and witnesses, words that would be carried to the metropolis, to the offices of legal officials. Dragging behind these words were the chained prisoners of the colony, eager on their journey to obtain money for a barrister in court.
This discussion examines the traces of such events and the role of the historian of 2026 in interpreting them. It addresses right of reply by Aboriginal people to history making. It questions the idea of a move into lawlessness the further we travel from Sydney and the idea of the frontier.
Dr Paula Jane Byrne’s new book, Law in the New Democracy is published by ANU press and with the assistance of the Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History.
Dr Paula Jane Byrne is an author and historian. She is an Adjunct Fellow at Western Sydney University. She has taught at six Australian Universities and held research positions at Sydney University, the ANU, UNE, the Australian National Library and the State Library of New South Wales.
