Ashton's Hotel

<p>South Australia was meant to be the perfect colony: free settlers no crime and no mental illness. But good intentions go awry. Within three years plans for a permanent gaol were well established along with a governor to oversee it: William Baker Ashton.<br /><br />Researcher Rhondda Harris came upon Ashton's long-lost journal by happy accident and was soon absorbed by 'The Governor's' handwritten pages. They told a hidden story of early Adelaide and its underbelly of crashes and crises and crims. 'Ashton’s Hotel' the colonists called their prison. His kindness of spirit under nigh-impossible circumstances shines through in this first published edition of his journal expertly contextualised and introduced by Rhondda Harris.</p>