Archive-led
Stories grounded in records, newspapers, official correspondence, and surviving traces.
Historical works from the archives
Built from records.
Written for memory.
Back Creek Press publishes history shaped from court records, newspapers, colonial archives, family fragments, and lives almost erased by time.
Current release
William Russell — Captain Bushranger
Convict. Bushranger. Outlaw.
Transported from Ireland in 1834 and later sentenced to life on Norfolk Island, William Russell entered the machinery of empire and was nearly erased from history. This book reconstructs his life from surviving records, colonial newspapers, and the fragments left behind. Written by a sixth-generation descendant of William Russell.
Reconstructing the outlaw
A life rebuilt from courtrooms, prison records, ship lists, newspapers, official letters, and family memory.
History does not always disappear. Sometimes it waits.
Back Creek Press is interested in the difficult edge of history: the names buried in indexes, the court reports no one reads twice, the official papers that reduce a life to a sentence.
Our books bring those fragments together, not as decorative nostalgia, but as evidence. The result is narrative history with dirt under its fingernails.
The press
A small publisher for stubborn histories.
Back Creek Press begins with one book, but it is built for a continuing shelf: colonial history, family reconstruction, forgotten lives, and stories that deserve more than a footnote.
Readable history
Serious research shaped into books people can actually sit with, finish, and remember.
Australian memory
Works connected to colonial Australia, transportation, settlement, conflict, endurance, and inheritance.
Reader responses
What early readers are saying.
“Your book is extraordinary. What an amazing story. So well documented.”
A.K.
“Loving this novel so far!”
Kris F.
“Got mine hardback. Terrific presentation. Beautiful book.”
Robert K.
Forthcoming works
One book now. More histories ahead.
Back Creek Press has been created as a home for future historical releases, companion essays, research notes, and archival reconstructions.
Reconstructing the Outlaw
Research notes, archive trails, and the making of William Russell’s story.
Future historical titles
New works will appear here as they move from notes to print.