{ "item_title" : "Colonial memories", "item_author" : [" Lady Barker "], "item_description" : "A governor's wife looks beyond official ceremony to the labour, improvisation and human encounters that sustained colonial life. Recalling years spent travelling between distant territories and remote outposts, she writes as household manager, public figure and alert observer, equally interested in administrative duties and the practical realities behind them. Her conversational voice moves easily from humour to nostalgia and occasional criticism, preserving the texture of a world already being transformed. Rather than following a continuous chronology, nineteen titled chapters unfold as self-contained travel sketches, informal essays and autobiographical anecdotes. Official residences, military camps, farms and island settlements become vantage points for reflections on transport, agriculture, education, hospitality and domestic service. In Western Australia, pioneer conditions and public responsibilities sit beside reported conversations and sharply noticed social customs, while railways, telegraphs and schools reveal the pace and unevenness of colonial change. Nature repeatedly interrupts the business of empire. Birds, animals, plants, gardens and tropical landscapes receive sustained attention, giving this colonial memoir a breadth that reaches beyond administration and society. The contrast between formal duty and everyday management lends the recollections their distinctive perspective: large systems are viewed through journeys, households, practical arrangements and encounters among diverse communities. Both travel writing and personal testimony, the work captures how change appeared to someone living within its routines rather than surveying it from afar. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers1.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/9/37/841/387/9378413870_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "21.99", "online_price" : "21.99", "our_price" : "21.99", "club_price" : "21.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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