'Fellow Traveller' Writers

I've been thinking about the current crop of writers who are interested, like myself, in the convict and 'Cornstalk' experience since 1788. (The term 'Cornstalk' was often used to describe the first generation of Europeans born and bred in New South Wales, because they shot up to be inches taller than their parents, due to better diets and environmental conditions.)

I started to make an alphabetical listing of the authors with whom I've had personal contact:

• Jan Barkley-Jack - Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed (non-fiction)
• Carol Baxter - Captain Thunderbolt & His Lady (narrative history) is her latest
• Michael Flynn - The Second Fleet, Britain's Grim Convict Armada of 1790 (non-fiction - being up-dated). Michael is also updating Mollie Gillen's book The Founders of Australia.
• Alan Frost - The First Fleet, the Real Story (non-fiction) is his latest
• Kate Grenville - Sarah Thornhill (historic fiction) is her latest
• Babette Smith - Australia's Birthstain (non-fiction)

Books such as the above, and mine, are re-writing our national and local histories. In this subject area, the list of authors and book titles seems to be growing. More and more Australians are realising just how little we have ever been told about the contribution made by this cohort of settlers to the development of our nation. We want the truth - hence the focus on non-fiction in the above list.

I plan to write an article soon on the contributions made by each book to our understanding of our history. I'd welcome further suggestions (via email) as additions for the list, with a focus on books published since 2000, please. It is the latest books which have benefitted from advances in technology, such as the digitisation of old newspapers, and thus contain new information and new insights. We have had enough recycling of the 'establishment' view.