Builder of Dreams - Hardcover

Andrew Mallon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0727020196 ISBN 13: 9780727020192

Publisher: Rigby Australia, 1984

Synopsis

The true story of the architect Francis Greenway has all the elements of romantic fiction. Convicted in England for forgery and sentenced to death, he was reprieved and transported in 1810 to the penal colony of New South Wales. The wretchedness and degradation of convict life were anathema to the proud-spirited Greenway. and spurred him to succeed in his new life in Australia. However, his arrogance made him many powerful enemies in Sydney Town, and when Governor Macquarie gave him the task of building the important South Head lighthouse he became, willy-nilly, a pawn in one of the most controversial issues of the day: convict emancipation. Andrew Mallon has painted a masterly portrait of the artistic genius who designed some of Sydney's most beautiful buildings, showing how his fortunes were shaped both by circumstance and by his own excitable, unpredictable nature. His extraordinary story is peopled with a crowd of colourful characters: his corrupt but warm-hearted cellmates in Newgate prison; the mysterious Kincaid brothers; and, above all, his lovely dark-haired wife, Mary. Greenway's struggle to prove his ability as an architect, and his persecution by the unscrupulous enemies of Governor Macquarie, make for engrossing reading. No detail is spared in the telling of his story, and the result is a powerful and realistic evocation of an exciting, turbulent era in Australia's history.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rigby Australia
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0727020196
• ISBN 13: 9780727020192
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 283