Lorelei Clark Australia
42 post card views of Scotland and one of Australia: The Scottish Insurrection of 1820
Original book title: 'The Scottish Insurrection of 1820 '
This was quite an interesting book. It describes an uprising which had remained untold for over a century. As I understand it, the book itself was quite controversial when it was first released. The story of the uprising and much of the related social history was very typical of these times, characterised by great changes brought about by crash industrialisation and the near feudal suppression of the working classes.

Political and ideological changes of the times are reflected too, as we see how the break from imperial monarchy to republic in both France and America effect the aspirations of the Scottish Nationalists. The punishment for many of those involved in the insurrection was transportation to Australia, as well as this, the infamous highland clearances resulted in large scale migrations around this time to the US, Australia and New Zealand, places where these Scots and their descendants made large contributions.

The images I put in the book came from souvenir publications of the 70's and feature icy blue skies, craggy mountain tops and verdant green pastures, distant views of remembered lands. There are also some pictures of historical sites and artifacts from tribal times, when the clan system took care of those people who were later exploited by industrialisation. At the back are fragments of an old English rune poem, which clearly show how the communities of these times were more akin to what we now regard as socialist. The poem is carved also into a set of stones at the back of the book and in this way functions as both a performance and possibly also a blessing.

lagoongrass@bigpond.com
www.lagoongrasspress.com