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Lucy Cooper (1846) reprinted 1992
A tale about a simple convict girl who was assigned as a servant to a prominent lawyer in Sydney. He attempted to seduce her but she was saved when the lawyer was killed by escaped convicts. It described life of assigned convicts with some well to do citizens. There was a funny description of a picnic in the John Lang humorous style. The convict girl was then assigned to another lawyer presumably based on W.C. Wentworth where she ran into difficulties with the other servants but was proved not guilty by her lawyer employer. She was finally rescued to live with a good family.

This is an important view of the kind of life led by assigned convict girls in early Sydney. It is also a libellous story about two prominent Sydney Lawyers

Lucy Cooper (an Australian Tale) first appeared as a serial in Sharpe’s London Magazine in 1846. It was republished as a serial in the Corio Chronicle in 1848 and again in the llustrated Sydney News in 1853. It was published in book form by Mulini Press, Canberra, 1992.

A new edition is availble from Mulini Press

John Lang
Lucy Cooper (an Australian Tale)
Mulini Press Canberra, 1992
ISBN 09 49910-23-6
58 pp
Price: $25.00 paperback; $45.00 cloth; plus postage and packing

To be obtained from:
The Mulini Press
PO Box 82
Jamison Centre ACT 2614, Australia
or e-mail to < vcrit @ bigpond.com >

 
 
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