The Hawkesbury River is the longest coastal river in New South Wales. A vital source of water and food, it has a long Aboriginal history and was critical for the survival of the early British colony at Sydney. The Hawkesbury’s weathered shores, cliffs and fertile plains have inspired generations of artists. It is surrounded by an unparalleled mosaic of national parks, including the second-oldest national park in Australia, Ku-ring-gai National Park. Although it lies only 35 km north of Sydney, to many today the Hawkesbury is a ‘hidden river’ – its historical and natural significance not understood or appreciated. Until now, the Hawkesbury has lacked an up-to-date and comprehensive book describing how and when the river formed, how it functions ecologically, how it has influenced humans and their patterns of settlement and, in turn, how it has been affected by those settlements and their people. The Hawkesbury River: A Social and Natural History fills this gap. With chapters on the geography, geology, hydrology and ecology of the river through to discussion of its use by Aboriginal and European people and its role in transport, defence and culture, this highly readable and richly illustrated book paints a picture of a landscape worthy of protection and conservation. It will be of value to those who live, visit or work in the region, those interested in Australian environmental history, and professionals in biology, natural resource management and education.

A landmark history of Australia's first successful settler farming area, which was on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. Award-winning historian Grace Karskens uncovers the everyday lives of ordinary people in the early colony, both Aboriginal and British. Winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Australian History 2021 Winner of the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize 2021 Co-winner of the Ernest Scott Prize for History 2021 'A masterpiece of historical writing that takes your breath away' - Tom Griffiths 'A majestic book' - John Maynard 'Shimmering prose' - Tiffany Shellam Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is where the two early Australias - ancient and modern - first collided. People of the River journeys into the lost worlds of the Aboriginal people and the settlers of Dyarubbin, both complex worlds with ancient roots. The settlers who took land on the river from the mid-1790s were there because of an extraordinary experiment devised half a world away. Modern Australia was not founded as a gaol, as we usually suppose, but as a colony. Britain's felons, transported to the other side of the world, were meant to become settlers in the new colony. They made history on the river: it was the first successful white farming frontier, a community that nurtured the earliest expressions of patriotism, and it became the last bastion of eighteenth-century ways of life. The Aboriginal people had occupied Dyarubbin for at least 50,000 years. Their history, culture and spirituality were inseparable from this river Country. Colonisation kicked off a slow and cumulative process of violence, theft of Aboriginal children and ongoing annexation of the river lands. Yet despite that sorry history, Dyarubbin's Aboriginal people managed to remain on their Country, and they still live on the river today. The Hawkesbury-Nepean was the seedbed for settler expansion and invasion of Aboriginal lands to the north, south and west. It was the crucible of the colony, and the nation that followed.

'Winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime in the slums of London, William Thornhill is transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife Sal and children in tow, he arrives in a harsh land that feels at first like a de...

Pictorial History Hawkesbury by Michelle Nichols is a new book in the famous series of pictorial histories which cover the suburbs of Sydney. The Hawkesbury district in Sydney¿s west was once home to many Australians and in the early 19th century had the second highest population in the colony. In the first few decades of the 1800s the Hawkesbury region was one of the major settlements alongside Sydney and Parramatta. Indeed many Australians can trace their origins (both convict and free) to this district. In the Hawkesbury history suburbs extending from Bilpin, Colo, Ebenezer, Kurrajong, Mount Tomah, Richmond, Windsor and Wiseman¿s Ferry are represented in a wide range of black and white photographs. The book includes the historic areas of Cattai, Riverstone, Londonderry and Yarramundi. With over 190 rare and interesting photographs it is a fascinating overview of the history of the area from Aboriginal to modern times.

'Searching for the Secret River is the extraordinary story of how Kate Grenville came to write her award-winning novel, The Secret River. It all began with her ancestor Solomon Wiseman transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life who later became a wealthy man and built his colonial mansion on the Hawkesbury. Increasingly obse...

"This book is much more than a biography of Matthew Everingham, it is a valuable reference work on the First Fleet and the conditions in Eng- land responsible for the establishment of a convict settlement in N.S.W.; the early period of settlement at Sydney and in the Hawkes- bury district." (flyleaf of paper cover of v. 1). Matthews James Everingham (1769-1817) was sent to New South Wales as a convict in 1788, and married Elizabeth Rimes (Rymes), another convict immigrant, in 1791. After their terms were served, they settled on land near the Hawkesbury River. Vol. 2 (of the trilogy) tells of Matthew and the first generation of his descendants as they developed the Hawkesbury River settlement.