At the Hem of the Empire, a debut novel by South Australian author Tilley Baxter is a thought-provoking exploration of the rarely-mentioned role of women in the ordinary classes who pinned their hopes for a better future to the British Colonial dream. 

Carefully cosseted 18-year-old Ann Nielson, who scratches out a meagre living in the impoverished Wynds of Glasgow with her parents and younger brother, accepts the marriage proposal of older baker, William John Smith against her mother’s advice. She becomes caught up in his aspirational ideas of travelling to the new free Colony of South Australia. John dreams of being his own master and Ann dreams of being the perfect wife, a respected woman in colonial society thanks to her husband’s endeavours. Their dreams are simple, and no different to those of thousands of others, some of whom they first encounter on the treacherous sea voyage ahead of them on the Bardaster, where she takes great pains to change her accent, realising she needs to improve herself too, if she is to change her circumstances.

Ann’s observations of the new colony upon their arrival in 1839 are a wonder for colonial history buffs and things start out well for the young couple, however, they have arrived in one of many economic depressions which will assail the new colony, whose economy driven by land speculation through foreign investment, does not make life easy for the ordinary working man. This leads to John’s decision to take his family to Kororāreka in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands. The family grows and business flourishes in the budding little community, thanks also to Ann’s enterprise and thoughtfulness, which John hardly acknowledges. Only a few years after their arrival, a Māori uprising sees the whole community evacuated with just the clothes on their back. John and Ann must start again. This time though, Ann is no longer the naïve 18-year-old, and she is furious that John not only hides truths from her but completely disregards her opinion. He is not a terrible man, just someone of his generation, who believes women, like children, are decorative accomplishments.

The narrative fast forwards to around 1885, when widow Ann, recalls the work that went into establishing the area of Smithfield, named after their family. This fascinating revelation of how the area developed and the family’s role in the growth of this dusty northern plain, is a delight for the reader. The narrative is made more powerful as Ann, in her final years, is able to reveal her own role after her husband’s death, and also reflect on her family circumstances, revealing a significant tragedy and other circumstances that had fractured the family’s union and for which they did not have the emotional tools to remedy. 

Tilley Baxter’s beautiful language, which delightfully evokes the era, and her respectful treatment of John and Ann’s characters within the confines of this early colonial society, is the masterpiece of this book, giving us an authentic take on what life was like for the ordinary family with ambition. It was a life of physical and emotional struggle, which needed to be born with stalwart strength, in order to survive. We can only marvel as we breeze through this historically detailed, but easy to read novel. Highly recommended.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/41805183.Laura_Di_Martino