'The object of the 'Letter . ' was to clothe in an attractive form a serious attempt to analyse the economic, social, and political condition of New South Wales . '. (by someone who had not set foot in the colony; but nonetheless . 'an extraordinary instance of political foresight').
On the face of it, the “Letter From Sydney” was a glorious, superb, glittering hoax. Wakefield had never been in New South Wales. He had never set foot in any colony. He knew nothing about land settlement. But so cleverly did he produce the illusion of being an authoritative exponent of the errors of colonisation as then practised, and a clear-sighted advocate of the right way to do it, that he even persuaded clever and responsible persons that he was, as it were, a new Moses pointing from a Pisgah-peak to promised lands across the seas.
Local notes
On the face of it, the “Letter From Sydney” was a glorious, superb, glittering hoax. Wakefield had never been in New South Wales. He had never set foot in any colony. He knew nothing about land settlement. But so cleverly did he produce the illusion of being an authoritative exponent of the errors of colonisation as then practised, and a clear-sighted advocate of the right way to do it, that he even persuaded clever and responsible persons that he was, as it were, a new Moses pointing from a Pisgah-peak to promised lands across the seas.