This is the story of the greatest escape artist of Australia's convict era - the legend of Moondyne Joe. "They'll not take my freedom away!" These are the words of Moondyne Joe, the beloved scoundrel and expert bushman of early Australian convict history. There wasn't a cell built that could contain him, and Joe often led the troopers on wild chases through the Moondyne Hills. This is the story of a colourful Australian legend from the award-winning team of Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac.

Moondyne Joe was colonial Australia's ultimate escape artist. His daring and repeated breakouts drove the Governor to build him a special cell. And when Moondyne Joe escaped again, he drove the Governor mad. Moondyne Joe himself died a pauper in Fremantle Lunatic Asylum but not before he gained notoriety as a lawbreaker, the husband of a brothel madam, a bushman who befriended local Indigenous people, and as a folk hero who championed the underdog. Written by John Kinsella, one of Australia's best known poets, and Niall Lucy, a caustic and irreverent social commentator, this book is an anarchic and playful examination of an elusive man and the harsh convict system he resisted.

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For anyone interested in the convicts and their legacy in Western Australia, this issue of Studies in Western Australian History is not to be missed. It contains articles addressing the journey of the convicts to the colony, detailing case studies highlighting different aspects of the convict experience, demonstrating the legacy of the convicts' labor in building the colony, discussing the surprising lack of debate and research into the convict era in Western Australia, and supplying reference and research tools to assist anyone wishing to delve into the archives to trace a convict themselves. A list of the latest in academic research produced between 1997 and 2005 on an extraordinary range of Western Australian history topics is also included in this volume.