Rotters and Squatters

There were two tiny colonies at the end of the world-one in New South Wales and one in Van Diemen's Land-perched on the edge of a vast and mostly unmapped continent. There were four main towns-Sydney and Parramatta in New South Wales, and Hobart and Launceston in Van Diemen's Land. Radiating out from around these towns were a growing number of smaller villages. Rotters and Squatters continues the warts-and-all story of Australia from 1820 to 1850. This period saw new colonies founded and squatters spreading into new areas and taking the best land. Clashes with the Indigenous population were inevitable and often brutal. As the supply of convict labour dried up, free settlers began arriving and the demand for self-government grew.