- Bloomfield, S, ‘A Curious Little Treasure turns 200‘, Unbound: The National Library of Australia Magazine, June 2019.
- Bloomfield, S, ‘Mary Kirk (c.1797-1846)’, The Ancestral Searcher, vol. 42, no. 1, March 2019, pp. 33-34.
- Bloomfield, S, ‘Spruiking Van Diemen’s Land: The Long Reach of a Little Bush-Ranger book‘, Script & Print, v. 42, no. 1, 2018, pp. 26-47 (published Apr. 2019).
- Bloomfield, S, Tasmania’s first printing press: a response to John Currey, Tasmanian Historical Research Association: Papers & Proceedings, vol 68, no. 3, Dec 2021, pp. 57-60.
- Collins, C & Bloomfield, S, ‘Hobart Town, 1816: Andrew Bent and fermenting change’, Tasmanian Historical Research Association: Papers & Proceedings, vol 64, no. 1, Apr 2017, pp. 32-57 [Full Text PDF].
- Collins, C & Bloomfield, S, ‘Hobart Town, 1816: Andrew Bent and fermenting change’, paper presented to a meeting of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Hobart, 10 May 2016 [Soundcloud Audio]
- Collins, C ‘The Libel Trials of Andrew Bent, 1825-1838’, paper presented to the Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society conference, Hobart, 9 December 2006.
- Collins, C, ‘Andrew Bent and the birth of the free press in the Australian colonies’, paper presented to the Australian Media Traditions conference, Canberra, 24 November 2005 [Full Text PDF].
Websites
- Melbourne Press Club, The Australian Media Hall of Fame (Andrew Bent inducted on 10 August 2018).
- National Museum of Australia, Defining Moments in Australian History, First Free Press 1824 – Ex-convict Andrew Bent founds first free press in the Australian colonies
Further Reading
- Bonwick, J, Early Struggles of the Australian Press, Gordon & Gotch, London, 1890 [Full Text Online]
- Calder, JE, ‘Something about old colonialists – Andrew Bent’, The Mercury, 5 February 1881, p. 1 [Full Text PDF]
- Ferguson, JA, Bibliography of Australia, vols. 1-3 of 7, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1941-1969 [Full Text Online].
- Heaton, H, ‘The Early Tasmanian Press, and its Struggle for Freedom’, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1916, pp 1-28 [Full Text PDF]
- Kain, O ed., Mr Cockatrice: RL Murray’s reports of proceedings in the libel case Butler v Bent, 1830, heard in the Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land, James Dally, Adelaide, 2003.
Miller, EM, Pressmen and Governors, Sydney University Press, Sydney, 1952.
- Miller, EM, ‘An Unrecorded Hobart Town Gazette’, Tasmanian Historical Research Association: Papers and Proceedings , vol 7, no. 3, Jan 1959, pp. 34-43.
- Pretyman, ER, ‘Bent, Andrew (1790–1851)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 1966, accessed online 22 July 2018 [Full Text Online].
- Wilson, I, Collecting Old Tasmanian Books, Boobook Press, Melbourne, 2010.
- Woodberry, J, Andrew Bent: And the freedom of the press in Van Diemen’s Land, Fullers Bookshop, Hobart, 1972.
Bent’s Law Cases
1810, 01 Nov: R v Bent & Street, Old Bailey, London.
1825, 01 & 26 Jul: R v Bent (No. 1)
1825, 01 Aug: R v Bent (No 2)
1825, 6 & 14 Dec: continuation of R v Bent (No. 1)
1826, 29 Mar: continuation of R v Bent (No 2)
1826, 15 Apr: R v Bent
1827, 15 May: R v Bent
1830, 12 & 13 Jan: Butler v Bent – first trial by civil jury in Van Diemen’s Land.
1830, 15 & 16 Jan: Kennedy v Bent
1830, 06 Feb: continuation of Kennedy v Bent; R v Bent
1830, 10 May: continuation of Butler v Bent
1832, 21 Sep: Melville v Bent
1838, 14 Sep: Murray v Bent; Stephen v Bent (No. 1); Stephen v Bent (No. 2).
1840, 23 Nov: In re Bent
Legislation
1827, 21 Sep: Newspaper and Licensing Act (VDL) (8 Geo IV, No. 3) (‘Bent’s Act‘)
ANDREW BENT: Father of the Free Press in Australia 