The Paper War

Morality, print culture and power in colonial New South Wales

Anna Johnston

• Publisher: UWA Publishing
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781921401541
• eBook ISBN: 9781742583754

In February 1832 Rev. Threlkeld was named as one of the 'perpetual blisters' that the London Missionary Society seemed 'destined to carry'. Lancelot Threkkeld, a working-class British subject, had lobbied his way to the colonies where he set up the Lake Macquarie mission in New South Wales. It was here that controversies, arguments, tempers and debates abounded, resulting in a very public 'paper war'. This engaging and intelligent book delves into the diverse and voluminous body of texts produced by and about Threlkeld from 1825–41. It identifies an influential network of British Empire men who were as crucial to the humanitarian debate as they were to the destruction of Threlkeld's mission. A web of intrigue, corruption, slander, whistleblowing and backstabbing, The Paper War is an eye-opener to colonial Australia.

Table of contents

• Cover
• About Author
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations and tables
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Colonial archives and textuality
• Chapter 1: Colonial morality
• Chapter 2: Colonial linguistics
• Chapter 3: Colonial press
• Chapter 4: Colonial respectability
• Chapter 5: Colonial legality
• Conclusion: Colonial historicity
• Notes
• Select bibliography
• Index