Dark paradise : Norfolk Island : isolation, savagery, mystery and muder (edició 2013)

Oh dear. I was so looking forward to sitting down and soaking up an intriguing and interesting read when I read the synopsis for this book and, unfortunately I was sorely disappointed.

It was not an immediate disappointment, it was one that gradually crept up as I progressed through the book, and took the form of some major factual errors which most readers will pick up the minute they come across them. The result of these were that I felt this Author had not done as much research into their topic as they possible could before putting the words on paper, and from this point onwards for me it rather invalidated any other point they were trying to make. Yes, the location was part of the British Empire, and yes it was originally used by them as a penal colony; the Author could get this facts correct, what happened with the glaringly incorrect ones? If ever a book spiralled out of control in the worse possible way, this has to be that book.

In a book of this kind, much could have been gained, and an extra dimension added by including some by including some documented narrative from actual Islanders themselves as to the events covered, unfortunately this was not the case and resulted, in my opinion in a rather flat, one-dimensional piece of work. There were so many avenues of research that could have been followed, and were left ignored in the favour of the violence and abuse that took place, which resulted in this being a rather dull read. Another plus that this book could really have used were the skills of an excellent proof reader and a bold editor, there were so many bad typos in this book that, at one point I was beginning to think that somehow the unedited copy had made it into print instead of the finished piece of work; even the synopsis on the back of my library loan had typos, maybe I should have heeded this subliminal warning and left the book on the shelf. If you are interested in the history of Norfolk Island, this book is worth reading to a point, and that point is that it should not be read as an only source on the subject but in conjunction with other, better researched pieces.

I find, with this book, I cannot recommend it to anyone with a clear conscience, and based on this piece of work I doubt I will read any other works by this Author.

Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/05/01/review-dark-paradise-robert-macklin/




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A brutish story about those terrible convicts exported from the UK in the nineteenth century to Botany Bay anr Port Arthur anyone? A jewel in the South Pacific, Norfolk Island is another of those british possessions with a dark and troubled past. The administrators - mostly former armed forces men who had useful patrons - sent to mantain order among the worst of the worst convicts used astonishing barbarity to do so. The authour spares no detail about the tortures inflicted, light years ahead of Guantanamo Bay.

If you are thinking about or have recently visited the Island it is essential reading, although it is a serious historical work and not a travelogue.

Towards the end the writing strays a bit into what reads surprisingly like a university research paper, but by that point the interest has gone out of the story as it concentrates on somewhat undignigied stoushes with the australian government about who will pay for what. ( )