The Difficulties of My Position: The Diaries of Prison Governor John Buckley Castieau
Australian History Memoir Colonial History True Crime Penology Prison Studies Law Enforcement History
The Difficulties of My Position: The Diaries of Prison Governor John Buckley Castieau is a rare first-edition paperback that drops readers straight into the brutal, shifting world of colonial Australian prisons. Castieau’s daily entries—kept between 1855 and 1882 while he governed Melbourne’s Pentridge and Melbourne Gaols—record floggings, escapes, executions and political intrigue in the blunt, unfiltered voice of the man who had to enforce order. Historian Mark Finnane’s expert contextual notes turn the raw diary fragments into a living narrative, making this 2004 National Library of Australia release the definitive way to own a front-row seat to nineteenth-century penal life.
What makes this copy especially appealing to collectors is its pristine reading condition: very-good, tight-binding, no markings, no dog-ears, no ex-library stamps—just light shelf evidence that whispers “I’ve been treasured, not abused.” First-edition Australian prison memoirs seldom surface on the secondary market, and this title is already out-of-print at the publisher, so every clean copy becomes harder to find each year. True-crime buffs, Australian history scholars, and genealogists tracking convict ancestry all search for Castieau’s eyewitness accounts, pushing steady demand that keeps resale values firm.
Beyond investment appeal, the book satisfies anyone hungry for authentic voices from the past. Castieau names notorious bushrangers, describes the construction of the “ghostly” prison chapel, and debates capital punishment with visiting clergy—material you simply won’t locate in tidy official reports. Finnane’s introduction and footnotes link each episode to wider colonial debates on crime, race and reform, turning a personal diary into a national story. Secure this copy now and you hold both a gripping memoir and a tangible slice of Australian penal heritage that reference libraries frequently cite but rarely keep on open shelves.
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