To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation: Americans and Canadians Transported to Tasmania in the 1840s

One of American history's "lost stories," To the Outskirts of Habitable Creation is the fascinating account of American and Canadian convicts exiled to an Australian penal colony. In 1837 an armed rebellion at Toronto against the colonial administration of British Canada spilled across the border and U. S. citizens joined the cause. The so-called "Patriot War" kept the frontier in a climate of fear and uncertainty as a series of battles in Canadian territory continued throughout 1838, in the hope of instigating political change. With the failure of each attempt to cross into Canada and revive the Rebellion, combatants were taken into custody. Trials resulted in hangings, acquittals, or pardons. One group of ninety-two prisoners, however, was sentenced to penal transportation for life in Australia's far distant island of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Drawing on a wide variety of letters, diaries, and personal reminiscences, the author tells the story through the experiences of the men and women who lived it. A minor "epic," To the Outskirts is more than the story of the Rebellion of 1837. It is a vivid portrait of life in the Canadian-American borderland as well as in England and Australia during the second quarter of the nineteenth century.