Although this book concentrates on land settlement in Tasmania, such a focus encompasses a wide range of historical themes relevant to Australia"s colonial history and prompts comparisons with other ex-colonial countries and frontier societies. Land status determined many other factors, so Land Settlement in Early Tasmania is able to investigate how white settlement affected the native Tasmanians and how they retaliated, as well as the early history of land alienation and environmental degradation in Van Dieman"s Land, the island"s social relations and the growth of primary industry from 1803-1830. Moreover, the book illustrates the way in which the early settlers often quite farcically attempted to recreate the English world that they left behind.