Georgian

First day of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, outside Parliament House, Canberra, 27 January 1972. State Library of New South Wales. Public Domain.

What Factor Has Most Shaped Australian History?

All national histories are contentious and partial. What are the defining themes in Australia’s story?

Slave Trade (Execrable Human Traffick, or The Affectionate Slaves), George Morland, c.1788. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Public Domain.

Why Did Britain Abolish the Slave Trade?

The Slavery Abolition Act was passed by Parliament in 1833. What was really behind Britain’s moment of moral enlightenment?

Bronze seal-matrix of the Royal African Company, after 1663. Trustees of the British Museum.

African Princes Between the Companies

In 1717 two African princes were sold into slavery. Navigating London society and the machinations of the East India and Royal African Companies, they negotiated a path home.

Piazza San Marco, Venice, by Canaletto, 1720s. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Servants on the Grand Tour

An army of help accompanied wealthy British sightseers on their 18th-century sojourns across the Continent. What was it like to travel as a servant on the Grand Tour?

Watercolour showing the university from Old Gower Street Mews, George Sidney Shepherd, 1835. UCL Art Museum, University College London / Bridgeman Images.

The Godless Students of London University

The founding of London’s first university was controversial, but how much truth was there to claims of its students’ radical politics and rowdy ways?

Samuel Johnson, by Joshua Reynolds, 1775. © 2025, Courtesy of The Huntington Art Museum, San Marino, California.

New Year Readers’ Resolutions

How to read more? We might take instruction from a more leisurely age.

Jacquard loom, 1876. Heritage Images/TopFoto.

Jacquard Patents His First Loom

On 23 December 1800 Joseph Marie Jacquard set out to revolutionise weaving – and took his first step towards greatness.

Planter and his Wife, with a Servant, Agostino Brunias, c.1780. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

‘Heiresses’ by Miranda Kaufman review

Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance and Caribbean Slavery by Miranda Kaufman follows the money to reveal how Britain’s women of means profited from plantations.

Life Guards Horse Regiment during the Uprising of December 14, 1825, Senate Square St Petersburg, by Georg Wilhelm Timm, 19th century. Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

The Decembrists: Russia’s First Revolution

The Decembrist revolt of 1825 saw Russia’s nobility attempt to depose tsar Nicholas I. Dismissed as romantic idealists, they were driven by a bold vision for the future of the country.

Old Colonists Festival Dinner held at the City Bridge Hotel, Adelaide, 27 March 1851, by Samuel Gill. State Library NSW. Public Domain.

Drinking to Australian Democracy

The colony of New South Wales did not have its own parliament until 1856, but it did have a tradition of public dinners and politically charged toasts.