Alan Frost
Encyclopedia
Alan Frost is a La Trobe University
-based academic. A major theme of his research has involved the European exploration of the Pacific Ocean over the second half of the eighteenth century. He is best known for books in which he challenges common historical stereotypes and misconceptions concerning the colonisation of Australia. These include Botany Bay mirages: illusions of Australia's convict beginnings, Botany Bay: The Real Story, and The First Fleet: The Real Story. Frost's arguments radically challenge those expressed by prominent historians Manning Clark and Robert Hughes.
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
-based academic. A major theme of his research has involved the European exploration of the Pacific Ocean over the second half of the eighteenth century. He is best known for books in which he challenges common historical stereotypes and misconceptions concerning the colonisation of Australia. These include Botany Bay mirages: illusions of Australia's convict beginnings, Botany Bay: The Real Story, and The First Fleet: The Real Story. Frost's arguments radically challenge those expressed by prominent historians Manning Clark and Robert Hughes.
Academic career
Alan Frost completed an MA at the University of Queensland (1966). Following this, he went to the University of Rochester (NY), where he completed an MA (1968) and a PhD (1969). He took up his appointment in the English Department at La Trobe University in 1970, moving full-time into the History Department in 1975. He is currently a professor of history at La Trobe University.Awards and honours
- Hon. D.Litt., La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
(2008) - Centenary Medal (2003)
- Fellow of the Royal Historical SocietyRoyal Historical SocietyThe Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
(1988-) - Hon. D.Litt., University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
(1996) - Fellow of the Australian Academy of the HumanitiesAustralian Academy of the HumanitiesThe Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...
(1990-)
The Frost Archive
For 35 years Alan Frost has been collecting primary documents relating to the decision to colonise Australia, the mounting of the First Fleet and the early settlement of Sydney. Totalling more than 2000, these documents have been drawn from locations scattered around the globe in order to reconstitute original series and sequences. Give the scope and range of sources and subject matter, it offers a greater overview of these historical events than what any single participant could have had at the time. The Frost Archive has vastly expanded the historical record readily available to historians, allowing a more sophisticated base from which to make analyses. It is available on a website of the State Library of New South Wales.Major Published Works
- Botany Bay: The Real Story, Melbourne, Black Inc., 2011.
- The First Fleet: The Real Story, Melbourne, Black Inc., 2011.
- The Atlantic world of the 1780s and Botany Bay: the lost connection, Bundoora, Melbourne, La Trobe University, 2008.
- The Global Reach of Empire: Britain's maritime expansion in the Indian and Pacific Oceans 1764-1815, Carlton, Victoria: Miegunyah Press, 2003.
- Voyage of the EndeavourEndeavour- Organizations :* Endeavor , a non-profit organization based in New York, New York* Endeavour , a non-profit organisation in Queensland, Australia* Christian Endeavor International...
: Captain Cook and the discovery of the Pacific, St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1999. - East coast country: a North Queensland dreaming, Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1996.
- The Precarious Life of James Mario Matra - Voyager with Cook, American Loyalist, Servant of Empire, Carlton, Victoria, Miegunyah Press, 1995.
- Botany BayBotany BayBotany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
mirages: illusions of Australia's convict beginnings, Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 1994. - Sir Joseph BanksJoseph BanksSir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
and the transfer of plants to and from the South Pacific, 1786-1798, Melbourne, Colony Press, 1993. - Arthur PhillipArthur PhillipAdmiral Arthur Phillip RN was a British admiral and colonial administrator. Phillip was appointed Governor of New South Wales, the first European colony on the Australian continent, and was the founder of the settlement which is now the city of Sydney.-Early life and naval career:Arthur Phillip...
, 1738-1814: his voyaging, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1987. - Convicts and empire: a naval question, 1776-1811, Melbourne University Press, 1980.
- Dreams of a Pacific Empire: Sir George Young's proposal for a colonization of New South Wales (1784-5), a parallel edition of the texts, together with an introduction discussing their historical background and foreground, Sydney, Resolution Press, 1980.
Edited Published Works
- Alan Frost and Jane Samson, eds., Pacific Empires: Essays in Honour of Glyndwr Williams, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1999.
- Alan Frost and John Hardy, eds., "European Voyaging towards Australia", Canberra, Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1990.
- Alan Frost and John Hardy, eds., "Studies from Terra Australis to Australia", Canberra, Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1989.
- Glyndwr WilliamsGlyndwr WilliamsGlyndwr Williams has been Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London since 1974 and has specialized in this history of exploration and the history of Europe overseas. He was appointed a professor emeritus of the University of London in 1997.-Academic career:Williams earned his...
and Alan Frost, eds., Terra Australis to Australia, Melbourne, Oxford University Press in association with the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1988. - Alan Frost and R.J.B. Knight, eds., "The Journal of Daniel Paine 1794-1797", Sydney, Library of Australian History in association with the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich), 1983.