Robert Tyler – författare

Works which have sought to look specifically at the Welsh in Australia have been few in number and characterised by a concentration on prominent individuals and cultural/religious societies, thus excluding many facets of immigrant life. This book provides an analysis of the Welsh immigrant community in the Ballarat/Sebastopol gold mining district of Victoria, Australia during the second half of the nineteenth century and considers all aspects of the Welsh immigrant experience. As its focus, the book has the Welsh migrant group as a whole, in one particular area, during one period of time, for ultimately it was the migrants themselves who were responsible for the strength or weakness of Welsh religious life, the success or failure of Welsh cultural institutions; they who decided whether or not to retain and transmit their national language if, indeed, they spoke it in the first place; they who chose whether or not to marry within their own group, to live amongst their own, to retain the ties of Welshness and pass on the values of the Old Country, or to attempt full and immediate integration; they who were miners or shop owners, abstainers or drunkards, law abiding or criminal. A true picture of Welsh immigrant life can only be obtained by considering the community in its entirety, to view it in the round, as it were. This work attempts to do just that and hopes to make some small contribution to the understanding of what it was to be one amongst the thousands of Welsh people who lived in a particular place at a certain time in a land so far from Wales.

Works which have sought to look specifically at the Welsh in Australia have been few in number and characterised by a concentration on prominent individuals and cultural/religious societies, thus excluding many facets of immigrant life. This book provides an analysis of the Welsh immigrant community in the Ballarat/Sebastopol gold mining district of Victoria, Australia during the second half of the nineteenth century and considers all aspects of the Welsh immigrant experience. As its focus, the book has the Welsh migrant group as a whole, in one particular area, during one period of time, for ultimately it was the migrants themselves who were responsible for the strength or weakness of Welsh religious life, the success or failure of Welsh cultural institutions; they who decided whether or not to retain and transmit their national language if, indeed, they spoke it in the first place; they who chose whether or not to marry within their own group, to live amongst their own, to retain the ties of Welshness and pass on the values of the Old Country, or to attempt full and immediate integration; they who were miners or shop owners, abstainers or drunkards, law abiding or criminal. A true picture of Welsh immigrant life can only be obtained by considering the community in its entirety, to view it in the round, as it were. This work attempts to do just that and hopes to make some small contribution to the understanding of what it was to be one amongst the thousands of Welsh people who lived in a particular place at a certain time in a land so far from Wales.

The first comprehensive guide to the past and present of this largely undiscovered area of London. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs and maps showing the development of this elegant and romantic district. The book also contains a guide to leisure and pleasure in Little Venice, with a full listing of pubs, theatres, galleries, hotels and restaurants. Beautifully presented, this book has much to offer residents and visitors alike.

Writing as an ‘an ordinary citizen’ as he describeshimself, Robert Tyler presents his ideas for how this Government could betterapproach growth for the purpose of creating greater equality amongst the UKpopulation.  All his new policy ideas,and there are lots of them across a broad spectrum of Government departments inthis lateral and innovative contribution to political policy and commentary,reflect that strategy.He points out that the UK Government can only control andmanage four things; defence, tax, immigration andtheir own behaviour.  Everything elsedepends on the attitude and behaviour of citizens here and elsewhere in theworld.  That’s why he says mutual trustbetween citizens and government is crucial to success.  That trust doesn’t exist at the moment, andthose with most needs suffer the most in consequence.  Tyler suggests how to heal the rupture andrebuild national confidence.Tyler welcomes multiple views and varying personal interestsas a way of obtaining better policies:  ‘Weneed both a left and a right wing for the UK to fly’.  His proposals include an immediate switch to aProportional Representation voting system, claiming that would work for allpolitical parties right now and is anyway what repeated polls suggest thepublic want.This book is a must for those from every part of thepolitical spectrum interested in a host of new policy ideas and a pragmaticapproach to the reality of life today in the UK.