Botany Bay

by Charles Bernard Nordhoff, James Norman Hall

The story of Hugh Tallant, highwayman and the infamous penal colony established in Australia in 1788.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, Classics

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

This describes the 20th century novelist, most famous for Mutiny on the Bounty. For the 19th century journalist and author, see Charles Nordhoff.

Charles Bernard Nordhoff was an English-born American novelist and traveler.

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/16/18 - quote:

"Capetown, in those days before the English occupation, was a bit of Holland, set down in Africa, and inhabited by a greater variety of races than could be found in any European city. The wide streets were laid out at right angles with the greatest order, and the houses, of whitewashed masonry, in their well-tended gardens, looked as if they were scrubbed every day, from ground floor to attic. The burghers strolled along the waterfront in the cool of the evening, or sat in their gardens, drawing in stolid content at their great porcelain pipes. Seamen of many nationalities wandered in bands and crowded the public houses to drink the fiery Cape wine. Heavy wagons drawn by several span of oxen, and laden high with casks and bales, rumbled through the streets, managed with great skill by their Kaffir drivers, who cracked long whips of rhinoceros hide. The Dutch had brought numbers of Malays from the East Indies, and they gave a touch of gay colour to the scene, in their embroidered jackets and bright-coloured kilts."

***

Initial impression - another classic library edition, with an impressed picture of a ship in full sail on the hard-cover. Pleased that one of Oregon's smaller public libraries has a copy. Nowadays libraries tend to discard these old-timers to make room for BS (Best Sellers).

As they did with Falcons of France, the authors open with a letter. This one to scholars at the universities of Sydney and Melbourne.

"Dear Dr. ...

"Permit us to dedicate this book to you as a small acknowledgment of the pleasure and profit we have derived from your researches in the field of early Australian history.

"As you will see, our story is what might be called a romance of the First Fleet, in which, for dramatic effect, we have been obliged to take certain liberties in the matter of dates, incidents, and the like; but our purpose throughout has been to keep close to fact with respect to First Fleet events.

"We hope that you may find some entertainment in following this furrow over an almost untilled field in the realm of historical fiction. ... Sausalito, California, April 22nd, 1941."

***

The story's first four paragraphs :

"It has been a glorious day of Australian spring, without a cloud in the sky; the air cool enough to be bracing, yet warm enough in the afternoon to permit taking my ease, here in the shade of my favourite tree. The long, narrow lagoon is just below me, where I can watch the black swan and other waterfowl moving about the wind-flawed surface, and Arthur's cattle, approaching in groups to quench their thirst, or to stand knee-deep in the cool water they seem reluctant to quit. The sun is halfway down' toward the west, the green, gently rolling downs stretch away as far as the eye can reach.

"For many miles in that direction the land is my son's. His house stands on a knoll overlooking the still water and timbered bottom land. It is a dwelling of the pioneer sort, such as my ancestors erected two hundred years ago in Maryland. Rude the house is, but solid and comfortable, with flower beds in front and a fine kitchen garden at the back which my daughter-in-law has laid out with her own hands. Smoke is rising from the chimney, for she and Sally are busy at their baking. The corn stands tall and green in the fenced field below the house. This red soil, blessed in normal years with an abundant rainfall, grows wheat as bountifully as the best land on the Potomac, and when left untilled to produce its native grasses it will support three hundred and fifty sheep to the square mile. With limitless tracts of such land, the future of New South Wales seems bright indeed, yet only forty-three years since there was not a white man on the Australian Continent.

"I can recollect, as though it happened yesterday, how the convicts were disembarked in Sydney Cove, and how a village of tents sprang up on both shores of the little bay. Sydney is a thriving town in these days, with busy streets, shops and warehouses of stone, and a forest of masts along the waterfront. It is strange to reflect that I was one of the first boatload of Englishmen to set foot on the shores of the cove. It has been my misfortune, or good fortune perhaps, to live in an era of mighty changes; the war which freed the American Colonies from British rule, the revolution in France, the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte to make himself master of Europe, and the end of Spain's empire in the New World. Though unimportant by comparison, the greatest event in which I have played a part has been the settlement of New South Wales.

"Australia has a character of its own and is beginning to breed a race of men upon whom that character is stamped indelibly. Though first settled by convicts, it is by nature a land of freedom, of bright sunlight and vast plains and mountain ranges. Yet it is a harsh land, where only the strong can thrive. Our vegetation, inured to storm and drought, is the hardiest in the world, and men must share this hardihood. The sons of Australia are wanderers, adventurers, and pioneers."

***

Nearing the end, there were some surprises ... overall satisfaction level 4 stars, perhaps 3.8 ... some history questions to explore. Am curious to explore more by Hall and Nordy.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Nordhoff/Hall's less recognized novels, Botany Bay deserves better attention. It seems almost of the time (1831) from which it looks back over the events of the life of Hugh Tallant, an American caught up in poverty in England and sentenced to transportation to Australia (New South Wales). Its atmosphere in London is almost Dickensian. And the time detailing the founding of Sydney reads like an adventure story akin to James Finemore Cooper's.

Clearly, the research Nordhoff/Hall conducted into the preparation of their famous Bounty Trilogy paid off with a sort of twofer. It enabled them a head start on their research of London and England in the late 18th century as well as giving some prior insights into the settlement of Australia, which was to be governed in the very early years of the 19th century by William Bligh, who was made notorious through his depiction in the Trilogy.

The story of the novel itself is epic in scope, while also focusing on the intimacies of poverty and injustice in England and the dangers and thrills of settling a new continent. For good measure, Nordhoff/Hall throw in yet another long sea voyage in a small launch that, while it does not rival that of Men Against the Sea, nonetheless makes for eager turning of the pages.

[F.J. Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read historical fiction. In fact, this was the first book I've read in years outside of science fiction and fantasy. But, I enjoyed this. The style was interesting. The authors took the first-person POV a step further. I've not read anything from the mid-19th century--a few snippets of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is the earliest I've read--but the wording and vocabulary used is what I would expect from someone raised in Colonial America at the time of the Revolution.

The story follows Hugh Tallant, who is telling the story, an American who was loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War. The War is over and Hugh seeks compensation from the British government for his loyalty, hoping to go to take part in colonizing the recently discovered Australian continent. The colonizing project is abandoned and so is Hugh. With his money depleted, he is forced into a life of highway robbery in order to return to North America. This leads him to Australia after all--as a convict. The misery of late-18th century London; of the goals; of the transportation ships; of the struggling beginning for the original penal settlers of Australia was very well captured.

Before reading the book, I had watched the 1953 movie based on it. As with most movie adaptations, very different. I guess Paramount wasn't comfortable with a hero who engages in dishonest business--even if it is out of desperation--so they made Hugh Tallant an American doctor (his part in the American Revolution left out) who was falsely accused. This gives the story a bit of Captain Blood/Mutiny on the Bounty slant.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my trip to Australia I read literature concerning my adopted second home covering the dramatic (A Town Like Alice), tragic (Gallipoli), comic (They're A Weird Mob) and the historic (Botany Bay) with excursions into the poetic (Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson). This thoroughly entertaining and interesting novel from the writers of Mutiny on the Bounty concerns The First Fleet and the founding of Australia. Recommended.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. One you 'can't put down'--I was up most of the night finishing it! A good look at how life was in the penal colonies of Australia in the 1780's and 90's.

[Barry Mathews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Botany Bay, written by the pair of writers that penned the thrilling Bounty trilogy series (Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, and Pitcairn's Island) captures life centered around three convicts transported to Australia aboard what is historically referred to as The First Fleet and the founding of the penal colony that became Sidney, New South Wales, Australia.

The authors, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, captured my imagination when I was a mere boy with their tales aboard the HMS Bounty, captained by William Bligh and seconded by his young Lieutenant Fletcher Christian. The first of the historical fiction series, Mutiny on the Bounty, dealt with the 1789 mutiny aboard the cutter, HMS Bounty, in the seas off the tropical island of Tahiti when Christian commandeered the ship from Captain Bligh and set him and eighteen loyal crewmembers afloat in the Bounty’s small launch. The second novel in the series, Men Against the Sea, tells of Bligh’s ability to navigate the over crowded small boat over 3,500 nautical miles to reach safety on Dutch controlled island of Java. The tale of the four months this voyage took is incredible. The final offering the trilogy, Pitcairn’s Island, deals with Christian and his band of mutineers and Tahitian tag-a-longs, attempting to evade capture and survive on a dot of an island (Pitcairn’s Island) halfway between Australia and the west coast of South America.

Now on the cusp of seventy, Nordhoff and Hall have given me several hours of enjoyment in reading their novel Botany Bay. As stated earlier, this book centers around three very likable convicts, Hugh Tallant, Nellie Garth, and Tom Oakley, who in 1788 are among the 1,400 convicts transported 24,000 miles, spread between eleven ships, from England to Australia. The novel tells of the hardships and successes of forming a settlement so far from support or contact with other Europeans with little to nothing of provisions to sustain them. Many great supporting characters are woven throughout the story making for a most enjoyable and informative read. I highly recommend all four novels mentioned in this review.

[David Sterritt]

“Botany Bay,” a relatively obscure historical novel by the team of Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, appeared in 1941 and is still more interesting than its minor-league reputation suggests. Set in the late 18th century and based on real events, it takes place mainly in the eponymous Australian penal colony, where several well-developed characters undergo numerous travails and occasional triumphs; it also has major scenes in London, and specifically in one of the era’s more notorious prisons, Narrated in prose that’s consistently clear, lively, atmospheric, and dramatic, the lengthy book is no masterpiece, but it’s absorbing all the way through. Recommended.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story about something I had never considered. After the Revolution, what happened to the people fought against the Americans for King George? The story starts with leaving New York & eventually going to England. Took a while to read, but it was worth it!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story set in the late 18th century world, in England and Australia. It tells a tale of a man who is transported to establish a penal colony where modern-day Sydney now stands.

[BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting historical novel by the authors of Mutiny on the Bounty. The novel decribes the life of the Hugh Tallant, as told by himself. Hugh Tallant, an American, is convicted in London of highway robbery and as such exported as a convict to New South Wales, Australia, as part of the First Fleet. The story shows its readers the hardship of the convicts who arrived on the First Fleet, as well as the even worse conditions endured by the convicts of the Second Fleet.
Because the historical data is given as part of a fictional story, the book makes both an interesting and pleasant read.

See also Netherlands & Flanders group discussion: Foreign authors > Foreign fiction translated into Dutch/Flemish for a review in Dutch.