Rights of Passage - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

Historian Michael Cathcart introduces William Wentworth and the "Emancipists", a loose-knit group of former convicts and their children who take on British Governor Ralph Darling in the 1820s in a struggle for independence and civil rights...See moreHistorian Michael Cathcart introduces William Wentworth and the "Emancipists", a loose-knit group of former convicts and their children who take on British Governor Ralph Darling in the 1820s in a struggle for independence and civil rights in colonial Australia. Set in Sydney in the 1820s, the second part of the dramatised documentary history series "Rogue Nation" delves into the conflict between the visionary Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who believes in the redemption of convicts and a fair go for all, and those who argue that his social experiment has gone too far. After 25 years as a penal colony, Sydney's white population has grown to around 36,000, the convict class is creating a new identity, the giant textile mills of industrial England are hungry for wool and the booming Australian pastoral industry, led by John Macarthur, relies on cheap convict labour to supply it. But with the industrial revolution comes a revolution of ideas and Macquarie believes in treating ex-convicts and their children as the equals of free immigrants-granting them land, government jobs, rights and respect. It's a controversial view and strategic lobbying by the pastoralists leads to Macquarie's recall and replacement by Governor Ralph Darling, whose mission is to reassert imperial authority and reinforce the colony's status as a place of punishment. But it won't happen without a fight and the "Emancipists", championed by newspaper proprietor-turned-barrister William Wentworth, challenge Darling head on. At stake is the question of whether a penal colony can ever become a nation. Two high profile cases, the Sudds and Thompson torture scandal and the Jane New trial, expose the frailty of Darling's rule as the "Emancipists" fight back with calls for justice and independence. The despised Governor is sent packing to a colourful Sydney farewell.See less