"The Hated Protector: the Story of Charles Wightman Sievwright, Protector of Aborigines, 1839-42" is the story of an Edinburgh-born former army officer sent to Australia by the British government in 1839. As he tried to protect the Aborigines from injustices, Sievwright quickly became "the most unpopular man that ever breathed" among his fellow whites. "The Hated Protector: the Story of Charles Wightman Sievwright, Protector of Aborigines, 1839-42" adds new and vivid archival detail to the story of the undeclared war fought in south-east Australia between Aborigines and mostly British settlers. It tells the story of an Edinburgh-born former army officer sent to Australia by the British government in 1839 under an experimental system to try to protect the Aborigines. If the system worked in New South Wales, it could be copied to protect indigenous people elsewhere in the Empire. But under Governor George Gipps in Sydney and Superintendent Charles La Trobe in Melbourne, the Aboriginal Protectorate was a dismal failure. It was not for want of trying by Charles Sievwright, who quickly became what one squatter called "the most unpopular man that ever breathed" among his fellow whites, as he lived in the harsh Australian bush with his wife and seven children, and with Aborigines who were mixing with Europeans for the first time. When Sievwright arrived in Australia, the majority of people in the Western District were Aboriginal. When he was dismissed on highly questionable grounds three years later, the majority were European. Aboriginal numbers had dropped dramatically, from massacres, disease and starvation. Sievwright was forced to return to London to fight to clear his name. "The Hated Protector" should appeal to anyone interested in British colonial and Australian history, particularly in the years of first contact between British settlers and Aborigines. More broadly, it should appeal to anyone interested in a story of one man's battle against overwhelming odds, where the price of failure was numerous deaths. It is a story of hatred, prejudice, courage, determination, and hope. "The Hated Protector" uses original archival material, including journals, official reports and letters, found in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, London and Edinburgh. Most has never before been published. The archival material is supplemented by contemporary newspaper accounts, and some oral history. Full notes are given to all sources, and the book is indexed and lavishly illustrated.
