The Child in New South Wales Society: 1820-1837

Abstract

Few things attract the mind more than the resolution of an apparent paradox, none more so than when it appears that good is being produced by evil. Such a paradox seemingly arises from a study of the literary evidence of early colonial N.S.W. These sources paint colonial society, with the exception of a small elite, in the blackest of hues. If one were to believe this description one could not imagine a more inhospitable climate for raising children. Those who have accepted these descriptions have then been faced with the problem of explaining how evil produced good for the general opinion was that the Colonial born children did not manifest the vice of the convict population. To date the argument has been that the Colonial born, convinced, by one method or another, of the value of the morality of the better classes, rejected their parents' values and became worthy citizens. This view was held by many contemporaries, although not all, and by some present day writers. Most modern opinion is derived from the thesis of K. MacNab summarised in the article co-authored with R. Ward.