“The convict system in essence was a form of compulsory, assisted migration. It eased the problems created by Australia's distance from Britain. Without it relatively few people from the British Isles would have made the costly journey across the world in Australia's first half century.”

Australian historian, academic, best-selling author and commentator

Geoffrey Blainey is an Australian historian, academic, best-selling author, and commentator. He is known for his work on Australian history and for bringing historical ideas to a wide public audience. Blainey has written extensively on Australia and on the ways history shapes public life. Alongside his academic work, he has built a large readership as an author and public commentator, and his writing is often associated with broad historical interpretation rather than narrow specialist study.