Private Robert McNally’s secret journal of 1820s Van Diemen’s Land
presented by Prof. Pam Sharpe
Very occasionally a historian strikes ‘archive gold’. For Pam Sharpe
this was discovering the diary/memoir of Private Robert McNally in the
National Library of Ireland. Private McNally, 40th Regiment of Foot,
served in Van Diemen’s Land during the mid-1820s. Prof. Sharpe will
discuss the surprise discovery of this damaged and rare anonymous
journal providing an insight into Van Diemen’s Land in the years leading
up to the Black War.
Pam Sharpe was the first female Professor in History at the
University of Tasmania and the first woman nominated to the Australian
Academy of the Humanities from Tasmania. A graduate of Edinburgh and
Cambridge Universities, she is an expert in British social and economic
history who has expanded her interests to Van Diemen’s Land.
Port Arthur Talks are a series of free presentations held regularly
in the Junior Medical Officer’s Conference Room at Port Arthur Historic
Site. All welcome. For more information contact us