This is the third in the Fair Dinkum Histories series, taking the story of the Australian colonies from 1820 to 1850. I've already raved about this series at http://homepage.mac.com/shawjonathan/iblog/C1020611578/E20060608145839/index.htm.... Consider it raved about again. They're children's books, in the sense that they're books that can be enjoyed by anyone, including children. Maybe you need an appreciation of juvenile humour to enjoy the deliberately appalling puns in some of Peter Sheehan's cartoon illustrations, but this book communicates without condescension or chalk-dust. Like the others in the series, it doesn't attempt sanitised 'balance': no doubt it will irk the haters of black-armband history or even red-tie history. I reckon the series, and this book as part of it, makes a significant contribution to historical writing abut Australia, not least by being a quick read with an occasional laugh-out-loud moment. I learned a lot. ( )