The Worst Country in the World

In 1801 Mary Pitt left her home in Fiddleford in Dorset with her five children and sailed across the globe to live in a penal colony. Colonial New South Wales was then barely fourteen years old. It was an experiment that looked as if it was going to fail. What on earth made Mary choose to go there?

The Worst Country in the World tells the story of the early days of colonial Australia as seen through the eyes of Mary and her family. It describes how the land that was originally considered not fit to be lived in struggled to become the ‘lucky’ country it is now. It is a personal story of family history told by Mary’s descendant, an Anglo-Australian Londoner who once lived in Australia and has a deep affection for it. It is about struggle and snobbery, reinvention and revaluation.

“Set against the backdrop of the Australian migrant experience, 'The Worst Country in the World' is not only a great read but a thought-provoking one too, especially for those with links to Australia, which reinvented itself from a convict colony to one of the ’luckiest’ countries in the world.” Karen Clare, Family Tree magazine
“This book relates the author’s family history over five generations, using a variety of techniques, each of which alone would pay rich dividends for students to emulate.... It provides a rich scenario for Patsy’s imagination, building on meticulous research in archives, to present us with a sensitive novel about Australia’s beginnings interspersed with reflections relating to the present day.’ Dorset Family History Society.