The Reluctant Pioneers is the latest book by Kogarah historian Beverly Earnshaw telling the story in their own words of those who were transported to Australia in the early years of European settlement.
It's a personal milestone for Mrs Earnshaw - her 25th book which is being published a month after she celebrated her 90th birthday.
Mrs Earnshaw, who received an OAM in the 2016 Queen's Birthday honours for services to historical organisations and as an author, has collated years of research gleaned for her time compiling the convict databases at the Hyde Park Barracks.
Some of the stories of the people who passed through there were so vivid that she had to record them to share with he wider reading public.
"This book is for the 'General and Recreational Reader'. It is not an academic text," Mrs Earnshaw said.
"It presents the story of the early years of white settlement through the eyes of people who were actually there.
"The Reluctant Pioneers were those people transported to Botany Bay against their wills. They were not desperate criminals.
"In England in those days there were 165 crimes punishable by death so that eliminated the worst offenders.
"Those transported to Botany Bay were mostly a contingent of burglars, pick-pockets, shoplifters, poachers, forgers and so on.
"The story of the First Fleet has been told over and over, always from the experience of those who landed. But no one has ever considered the tragic plight of the sailors who brought the ships out and had to take them back to England. Nearly half of those sailors never saw England again.
Every one of those transported had a life and a story to tell. We can read of the frantic fight of Betty Mitchell to be allowed to bring her children to the Colony with her. There was the tragic fate of Charles Niblett, once a dashing young Regimental Riding Master in the 10 th Huzzars, who died when he went with the Kennedy exploration party.
"The notorious and colourful prostitute, Ann Smallman, made enough money to pay her own fare back to England.
"The enlightened treatment of the juvenile offenders, all boys, some as young as nine-years-old, gave them a new start in life.
They arrived in their thousands. Those who were able to marry raised families in honour and respectability. Britain's convict system was the most enlightened form of penal administration the world had ever seen. With its limited sentences and remissions for good behaviour it was the first penal system in the world to offer its participants any hope of rehabilitation.
"Whereas one hundred years ago convict ancestry was hidden away as a source of shame, today it is worn like a badge of pride. These were the people who triumphed over adversity.
"The book finishes by highlighting success stories of convict descendants, one of whom became Premier of NSW and was a co-writer of the Australian Constitution.
"It draws its information from the First Fleet Diaries, from Surgeons Journals, from court records, trial depositions and a wealth of other Primary Sources.
"These sources speak for themselves and for the writer there is no need to make up anything.
"The story of our nation needs to be told. Our history needs to be protected. It needs to be taught in schools.
'"Those who were forced to Australia against their wills were the first and the last of the Reluctant Pioneers."
The Reluctant Pioneers will be launched at the Kogarah School of Arts this Saturday, November 18 by Anna Minns, wife of NSW Premier Chris Minns.
The launch is at 2pm and everyone is welcome to attend.
Signed copies will be available at $25 each.
The book can be bought online from the Kogarah Historical Society at kogarah.historicalsociety.com.au or at the Carss Cottage Museum.
