Series: Empire’s Other Histories

This book explores the emergence of ‘Australasia’ as a way of thinking about the culture and geography of this region. Although it is frequently understood to apply only to Australia and New Zealand, the concept has a longer and more complicated history. ‘Australasia’ emerged in the mid-18th century in both French and British writing as European empires extended their reach...

In 1845, an expedition led by Sir John Franklin vanished in the Canadian Arctic. The enduring obsession with the Franklin mystery, and in particular Inuit information about its fate, is partly due to the ways in which information was circulated in these imperial spaces. This book examines how the Franklins and other explorer families engaged in science, exploration, and the...

In 1845, an expedition led by Sir John Franklin vanished in the Canadian Arctic. The enduring obsession with the Franklin mystery, and in particular Inuit information about its fate, is partly due to the ways in which information was circulated in these imperial spaces. This book examines how the Franklins and other explorer families engaged in science, exploration, and the...

Winner of the Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society Annual Prize in Legal History 2025 (Best Monograph) Investigating the history of vagrants in colonial Australia and New Zealand, this book provides insights into the histories and identities of marginalised peoples in the British Pacific Empire. Showing how their experiences were produced, shaped and transformed through laws and institutions,...

Centering on cases of sexual violence, this open access book illuminates the contested introduction of British and French colonial criminal justice in the Pacific Islands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu/New Hebrides. It foregrounds the experiences of Indigenous Islanders and indentured labourers in the colonial court system, a space in which...

Drawing on unpublished archival material, this volume compares Moravian economic practice in three different mission-settings. It demonstrates how Moravian practices evolved during the 18th century as part of a globalising world and economy. Delivering in-depth analysis of the far-reaching and deep-seated effects of missionary activity on indigenous communities and social relations, it explores how different economic contexts impacted the missionaries’...