Prosperous: The Kennedy Murrays and the origins of historic Evandale in early colonial Australia

One of the great ‘untold stories’ of early Australia recovered. The unveiling of the statue of 'Harry Murray VC' (the most decorated soldier in Australian history) in Evandale in 2006 opened the door to remember the forgotten but significant role of the Kennedy Murrays in the early history of Tasmania and Australia as well as ‘the lost story of Evandale’. Australia's 'quintessential Georgian village', Evandale was originally ‘Murray’s Prosperous village’. Harry’s grandfather Kennedy Murray Jr was born 1799 on Norfolk Island to Kennedy Murray Sr and Ann White who came on the first fleets to Australia by 1792. In 1818 KM Jr was a confident and literate 'home-taught' teenager when he wrote to Governor Macquarie successfully applying for a farmland grant as an early, proud, and free 'native-born son' of Australia. The book retraces how Murray's farm hamlet Prosperous (also the name of his surviving    mansion house) emerged to become a pivotal Midlands village on his original land grant. Under Murray’s watch as also a Chief District Constable across two decades (along with the local school he built in c1830 and his other  community initiatives), Evandale had developed into one of the larger early towns of Van Diemen's Land by 1840. A hero to the local emancipists,  Murray's story is also one of a 'lost age' of colorful adventures and significant initiatives such as the Launceston Water Scheme—at times involving tyranny, suffering, and betrayals which should be remembered. The book sheds new insights on and a better understanding of a number of related controversies in the early Tasmanian colony involving (a) such key historical figures as   Governor Arthur, Surveyor Explorer G.W. Evans and Clarendon's James Cox, along with (b) extended family connections to notables like area pioneer David Gibson, builder Nathaniel Lucas and famous painter John Glover. The book describes the dealings between 'the Kennedy Murrays' and many fascinating as well as influential characters in early Colonial Australia. The book reveals a discovery that the Murrays changed their name because of a famous historical prohibition in Scotland recently verified as descended from a key lineage of ‘the MacGregors’ (traditionally a most resilient and pivotal Scottish Highland clan). With well-researched new information and documentary evidence, the book is 'chock a block' with relevant maps, photos and sketches as well as an extensive use of 'lost or rarely seen' original records.