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There has been a tendency in the past for the smaller, more intimate details of British colonisation and imperial expansion to be lost or understated during the creation of larger, more objective historical landscapes. Wide and assertive brushstrokes that produced bold images of exploration, European settlement and Aboriginal dispossession, have generally dominated representations of the colonial circumstance. Although these larger landscapes are essential for a general understanding of our past, it is important not to underestimate the value of the sensitive and subjective elements that informed the attitudes and behaviours of the men and women who contributed to the colonial story. To explore the emotions, desires and imaginings or our forebears, much of the primary source material originating from the colonies, and from individuals associated with the colonies, requires closer examination. Fortunately this matter is beginning to be addressed by some historians. ... By tracing the life of Lucy Gray née Waters (1840-1879), from her beginnings in Ireland to her experience of colonial life in both New Zealand and Australia, it is possible to access some of the more palpable and sensual encounters and communications that lay behind colonisation. Through a careful study of written and pictorial texts produced by women, new observations and interpretations come into focus. There was also life beyond the colonies, and this book explores the reactions and imaginings of members of Lucy Gray's family who remained behind in Britain, or chose to travel to other parts of the world. By examining the writings from 'home', alongside the written and pictorial texts produced in the colonies, it is possible to become intimately and emotionally involved in the colonial circumstance, and its wider ramifications. |
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