The Ballad of Moondyne Joe

Description

Moondyne Joe was colonial Australia's ultimate escape artist. His daring and repeated breakouts drove the Governor to build him a special cell. And when Moondyne Joe escaped again, he drove the Governor mad. Moondyne Joe himself died a pauper in Fremantle Lunatic Asylum but not before he gained notoriety as a lawbreaker, the husband of a brothel madam, a bushman who befriended local Indigenous people, and as a folk hero who championed the underdog. Written by John Kinsella, one of Australia's best known poets, and Niall Lucy, a caustic and irreverent social commentator, this book is an anarchic and playful examination of an elusive man and the harsh convict system he resisted.

John Kinsella's many volumes of poetry include the prize-winning collections Peripheral Light: New and Selected Poems and The New Arcadia. His collection of lectures on landscape and language, Contrary Rhetoric, has been published by Fremantle Press in conjunction with Edith Cowan University. Niall Lucy's books include Postmodern Literary Theory: An Introduction, A Derrida Dictionary and, with Steve Mickler, The War on Democracy: Conservative Opinion in the Australian Press.