Destiny in Sydney

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Destiny in Sydney
Destiny in Sydney.jpg
Front Cover
AuthorD. Manning Richards
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series3-books series about Sydney, Australia
GenreFamily saga historical novel
PublishedJuly 1, 2012 Aries Books
Media typePrint and ebook
Pages492 pp
ISBN 978-0-9845410-0-3

Destiny in Sydney: An epic novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia is the first historical novel in a three-book series about Sydney, Australia, by American writer D. Manning Richards. It was published in 2012 and followed by the second serial book, Gift of Sydney, in 2014. Destiny in Sydney begins in 1787 in Scotland and ends in 1902, covering 126 years of Australian history. The family saga story follows three fictional families: Scots-Irish, Aboriginal, and Chinese, who interact with real-life historical figures to dramatize the major events and conflicts in Australian history. Richards writes “The history is largely accurate . . . based on recorded history . . . from well over two hundred sources.” [1] The appendix lists ninety primary references and includes a discussion of “Fact or Fiction?” by chapter that tries to anticipate readers’ questions.

Contents

Origin and Inspiration

The author D. Manning Richards lived and worked in Sydney, Australia, for three years (1973–75) during a period of unprecedented reforms by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, which included returning title ownership to part of the Gurindji indigenous people ancestral lands, removing the last vestiges of the White Australia Policy, and establishing relations with China. [2] Destiny in Sydney was inspired by the author’s desire to understand the history of Australia, especially its European birthplace Sydney, and its gradual contentious movement toward multiculturalism. His curiosity led to years of researching the history of Australia, including reading nine of the twelve personal journals of the First Fleet, which placed the first convicts in Australia in 1788. [3]

Plot summary

In 1787, Scottish marine Lieutenant Nathaniel Armstrong is in charge of convicts on one of the eleven ships sent in the First Fleet to voyage from England to the other side of the world to establish a British penal colony. He lusts after fiery Irish convict Moira O’Keeffe and surprises himself when he falls in love with her. Together they nearly starve in Sydney Cove while learning to farm the harsh land and deal with the Aborigines, who suffer from the Europeans' diseases and unequal warfare.

Armstrong descendants deny their convict heritage and oppose the Chinese who come for the gold rush. Three Fong brothers suffer violence and despair as they fight to forge a place for themselves. Duncan Armstrong, rich and powerful, helps pass the White Australia Policy in 1901 that greatly restrict Chinese immigration and encourages Chinese Australians to leave, while his cousin Eleanor works for women’s suffrage and a “fair go” for Aboriginal Australians.

Major themes

Destiny in Sydney is a multigenerational historical novel, and, therefore, because it encompasses 126 years of family sagas and both Sydney and national history, the story has multiple themes: hardships of settlement and development; historical drama-action-adventure; mistreatment of convicts, Indigenous Australians, and Chinese; forming a democratic European government; and effects of the White Australia Policy.

Reception

Destiny in Sydney has received many positive reviews. Midwest Book Review is typical in recommending the epic historical novel for its “telling the story of individuals finding love where they least expect it, coping with their troubled convict heritage, the plagues of racism, and struggles with the indigenous people who truly own the continent." [4]

Main historical figures

The novel is unusual in the way it weaves real-life historical figures and fictional characters into the narrative of actual historical events that tell the story of Sydney and Australia, including the effects of European racism against the indigenous people and Chinese immigrants. The story is often told through the words and thoughts of the first five governors of New South Wales: Arthur Phillip, John Hunter, Philip Gidley King, William Bligh, and Lachlan Macquarie. A particularly interesting incident, the Rum Rebellion in 1808 dramatizes the overthrow of the government of Governor William Bligh (the Captain Bligh of the Mutiny on the Bounty). An extraordinary personality, John Macarthur, the "Father of Australian Wool," was behind the coup of Bligh and was an antagonist of all five of the early governors. [5] His remarkable wife Elizabeth Macarthur also is important to the storyline.

The principal Aboriginal historical figures Arabanoo, Bennelong, Pemulwuy, and Colebee were all real people as were the secondary Indigenous Australians: Nanbaree, Booroong, Yemmerrawanne, Gooroobaroobooloo, Tedbury, and Bungaree. Nearly all of the events in the novel involving these notable Aborigines are based on incidents described in the journals of the time and historical narratives.

The life of the fictional Chinese elder Ts’ing Kwong-tang borrows from the remarkable life of the popular Sydney leader Mei Quong Tart. [6] [7]

Main fictional characters

See also

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References

  1. Richards, D. Manning. "Destiny in Sydney". Amazon.com. Aries Books, 2012. Author's Note, p.xi. ISBN   978-0-9845410-0-3 . Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  2. Whitlam, Gough. "Australia's Prime Ministers". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  3. Richards, D. Manning. "Destiny in Sydney". Amazon.com. Aries Books, 2012. Primary Sources. pp. 466–470. ISBN   978-0-9845410-0-3 . Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  4. "Destiny in Sydney". Midwest Book Review. Small Press Bookwatch, The Fiction Shelf, March 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  5. Macarthur, John. "Macarthur, John (1767-1834)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  6. Tart, Quong. "Mei Quong Tart (1850–1903)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  7. Richards, D. Manning. "Destiny in Sydney". Amazon.com. Aries Books, 2012. Fact or Fiction section. p. 457. ISBN   978-0-9845410-0-3 . Retrieved 18 March 2016.

Further reading