At the Edge of the Centre: A history of Williamstown by Lynne Strahan (Second Hand Book)

SECOND HAND BOOK – EX-LIBRARY

‘Fishing village’, ‘Birmingham’ of the South or a centre of ‘gracious living’? Melbourne’s original port, the site of several major nineteenth-century industrial achievements and the setting for dramatic and poignant meetings between the yearning for stability and the thrust for change, Williamstown lies at the heart of Victoria’s history. At the Edge of the Centre diverges from traditional local histories by developing several themes that reveal Williamstown as both a highly individualised place and a microcosm that reflects aspects not only of the state’s but the nation’s history from the mid 1830s, all told with a Dickensian richness and an almost Gothic sense of humour and pathos that have been informed by Williamstown’s outstanding newspaper editors, and inspired by the sentiment common to generations of Williamstownians from doughty ships’ captains to feisty village orators that the place was in all ways superior.

‘The tree places [Brighton, St Kilda and Sandridge] don’t offer hald the attractions for an afternoon stroll that Williamstown presents any nice day,’ declaimed a patriot of 1874. ‘Here we have not only a beach, but a rocky shore into the bargain – ships of every shape and size – lovely women in galore – docks, ships, promenades, and, as our “flowery auctioneer” would say, things beautiful, novel, and entertaining, in varied profusion.’

Specifications:

Condition: Very good – ex-library, plastic wrapped, spine has library label, some pages have library stamps.

Publisher: Hargreen Publishing Company in conjunction with the City of Williamstown.

Year: 1994

Format: Hardback, with dustjacket

Pages: 489pp

ISBN: 0949905615

$12.00

1 in stock