CRUISE SHIP
DESTINATION TALKS
by Carol Baxter
Carol Baxter, the History Detective, is an internationally acclaimed author and cruise ship speaker.
Carol has lived and breathed colonial Australia for many years through her employment as the onetime General Editor of the Biographical Database of Australia and as the author of five works of narrative nonfiction set in colonial times.
With many Special Interest talks already prepared, she is now drawing on her historical knowledge to produce Destination talks.
Carol Baxter speaking on the Regent Seven Seas Explorer in 2024.
AUSTRALIAN COLONIAL HISTORY
Bound for Botany Bay
Imagine sending a fleet of eleven ships – six carrying cargoes of hardened criminals – across the world's oceans to establish convict colonies in Australia and Norfolk Island. What could possibly go wrong?
Category: General History (British settlement of Australia) or Port-based History (Sydney and/or Norfolk Island).
This is the same as Carol's Special Interest talk Shipwrecked.
Cargoes of Crime
For eighty years Britain dumped its felons – 160,000 men, women and children – on Australian shores. Why did Britain produce so many criminals? What became of them after transportation? And were they really the worst of humanity or could others who suffered or evaded justice be granted this ignominious status?
Category: General History (Convict Australia)
Catalpa Conspiracy
Britain’s last convict ship to Australia carried Irish political prisoners bound for its last convict colony: Fremantle. Explore Fremantle’s history through the tale of an audacious attempt by Irish-born Americans to pluck these prisoners from its now infamous prison (and current tourist attraction).
Category: General History (Convict Australia or Australia on the World Stage) or Port-based History (Fremantle/Perth).
This is a cut-down version of Carol's gripping two-part Special Interest talk.
Those B!@#$%* Bushrangers! (aka Those Blasted Bushrangers!)
In a nation that grew out of a convict colony, it’s probably not surprising that its greatest heroes include some of its greatest criminals. Join the History Detective on a rollicking robbing ride across eastern Australia during the bushranging epidemic of the colonial era.
Category: General History (Colonial Australia) or Region-based History (Eastern Australia including NSW and Victoria)
WORLD WAR 2 COMES TO AUSTRALIA
Australia's Pearl Harbour
As America reeled from the shock of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and Britain from the Fall of Singapore ten weeks later, Japan turned its deadly gaze towards Australia. What were they plotting?
Category: General History (World War 2 comes to Australia) or Port-based History (Darwin).
GENERAL TALKS - AUSTRALIA
Deadly Down Under
Australia is often described as the home to many of the Earth's deadliest creatures. Let's explore the continent's creepy-crawlies and other aspects of Australian wildlife and nature to see where the deadliness truly lies.
Category: Nature/Wildlife
FOR CRUISES WITH MANY SEA DAYS
It's About Time
As we cross the world's oceans changing time zones along the way, let’s explore the surprisingly strange story of how humans shackled time and established the world’s fixed time zones that plague us on our travels.
For Want of a Clock ...
Shipwrecks, drowned or starving sailors, disasters that would continue to destroy ships, lives and trade opportunities while navigators couldn't determine their longitude at sea. How did the world solve the greatest technological challenge of its time?
IN THE PIPELINE OR UNDER CONSIDERATION - AUSTRALIA
Aboriginal Australia
Explore the story of Australia’s original inhabitants prior to British colonisation. View the aftermath through the eyes of the most notorious Aboriginal woman in nineteenth century Australia.
Category: General History
An Irresistible Temptation
How did Australia transform itself from a convict colony into a leading nation? Let’s explore one critical period – the 1820s – through the prism of a delicious political sex scandal and an audacious bank robbery.
Category: General History (Convict Australia)
Brisbane Beckons
A convict colony ruled by the tyrant, Patrick Logan. The birthplace and landing place of Australia’s most famous aviator, Charles Kingsford Smith. The home to a future Olympic Games. Let’s explore Brisbane in the 1820s, 1920s and 2020s.
Category: Port-based history
Gold!
Imagine the cry "Gold!" in a convict colony! The New South Wales government managed to hide the news until 1851 ... then all hell broke loose. Let's explore the Australian gold rushes and their impact on Australia's development.
Category: General History (Colonial Australia) or Region-based history (NSW & Victoria).