John Gardiner is a journalist, media adviser and author. His first major book, A Hitchhiker’s Triptych, published by Austin Macauley Publishers in 2022, sold well across the United Kingdom, in Europe, in the USA and in Australia. John is married to fellow journalist and writer, Yvonne Gardiner. Together they have four children, Oliver and Alex, Kasey and James, and nine grandchildren. John lives in the pretty seaside village of Pottsville in northern New South Wales in Australia.
“Life is good. To write, surf, and then watch whales cruise along the coast in winter. Difficult to imagine the world being any better. I hope people enjoy this second book. So different from the first. Rough and ready, this one, staying as close to the research as possible.”
Most know the story of Australia’s First Fleet. But who were those convicts, sailors, marines and administrators who travelled to Botany Bay in 1787? And who orchestrated this ambitious expedition? In his meticulously researched new book, John Gardiner pulls back the curtain on the world from whic...