THE COMMANDANT - A Novel of an Early Australian Penal Station by Anderson, Jessica - 1975

London: Macmillan and Company, 1975. 320 pp. Black boards lettered in white on the spine; illustrated endpapers. Light wear on the corners of the dustjacket; two short closed tears on the lower edge of the front panel; price intact; no interior markings. Wraparound dj art by Ian Henderson. The Commandant evolves from the history of the early Moreton Bay penal settlement, now Brisbane. When prisoners escape from Moreton Bay to Sydney with their stories of harsh punishment, the fledgling press takes their side. Commandant Logan, convinced of the rectitude of his severe administration, is faced with an enemy he has never known before, but he ignores it. Logan is forced to face the reaction to his harsh discipline after the arrival of his young sister-in-law, Frances, who is unable to bear the brutality and whippings that are everyday life in Moreton Bay.... First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good-. Illus. by Ian Henderson;. 8vo.