Fix this text
The Bookfellow
Fix this textTHE AUSTRALASIAN REVIEW.
Fix this textMONTHLY.—VoI. V., No. 6.
Fix this textPublished at 29 Jamieson Street, Sydney.
Fix this textAPRIL 15, 1920.
Fix this textPrice, Fourpence.—Yearly Subscription, 4 s. 6d.
Fix this textposted to any Australasian Address
Fix this textBritish and Foreign, ss. 6ti.
Fix this textAUSTRALIAN WRITERS
Fix this textV.—T. A. BROWNE
Fix this textFor the Term of His Natural Life pre-
Fix this textceded by ten years Robbery Under Arms;
Fix this textone was written in 1870, the other in 1880.
Fix this textClarke’s book is a young man’s book; he
Fix this textwrote it when aged 24 to 25, and ten years
Fix this textlater he was dead. Browne’s book is a
Fix this textmiddle-aged man’s book; he did not write
Fix this textit till he was 54; and when Browne died in
Fix this textMelbourne he was nearly ninety years of
Fix this textage.
Fix this textClarke and Browne Compared.
Fix this textIt is curious to notice that both books,
Fix this textour two best Australian romances, were
Fix this textwritten on the serial plan of Dickens and
Fix this textThackeray. Each writer commenced by
Fix this textfinding an editor who would accept a book
Fix this textin instalments, and supplied the chapters
Fix this textweek by week or month by month until
Fix this textthe work was finished. Only, while Browne
Fix this textnever let the Sydney Mail go short* of copy,
Fix this textClarke’s manuscript failed to appear in
Fix this textseveral issues of the Australian Magazine
Fix this textin Melbourne, with the result that the cir-
Fix this textculation of the magazine fell woefully, and
Fix this textupon at least one occasion the desperate
Fix this textproprietors are said to have inveigled their
Fix this textcontributor into an office where he was
Fix this textlocked up till he had completed the month’s
Fix this textquantum. (But Clarke never related, as
Fix this textBrowne did, that the tears rolled down his
Fix this textface when his characters got into trouble.)
Fix this textIf For the Term of His Natural Life is
Fix this textthe better piece of literature, Robbery
Fix this textUnder Arms is the better Australian
Fix this textromance. Thomas Browne had not Marcus
Fix this textClarke’s literary faculty; but he had a re-
Fix this textmarkable knowledge of the Australian life
Fix this textand character of his epoch, and he fol-
Fix this textlowed faithfully Sir Walter Scott’s advice
Fix this textto observe and copy the fact. Scott was
Fix this textto a considerable extent Browne’s model
Fix this textas a romantic writer; and his writing name
Fix this textof “Boldrewood” was taken from “Mar-
Fix this textmion.” Before Browne sat down in his
Fix this textoffice at Dubbo, at half-past five one morn-
Fix this texting 41 years ago, a stocky little man of
Fix this text54, to write Robbery Under Arms, he had
Fix this textalready been writing for ten years, and
Fix this texthad published serially several of the novels
Fix this textwhich were reprinted later—including The
Fix this textSquatter’s Dream and A Colonial Re-
Fix this textformer.
Fix this textBrowne’s Early Days.
Fix this textBrowne’s roots go far back into the
Fix this textAustralian past. His father was a ship-
Fix this textmaster in the service of the old East India
Fix this textCompany, who, about 1830, decided to come
Fix this textand settle in Australia. He commanded
Fix this texthis own ship, and, in order to make the
Fix this textlong voyage profitable, he contracted with
Fix this textthe British Government to land 200 con-
Fix this textvicts in Van Diemen’s Land. With his wife
Fix this textand three children aboard, the voyage was
Fix this textaccomplished safely; and Thomas Browne,
Fix this texthad he chosen, might from the reminis-
Fix this textcences of his parents have written a vivid
Fix this textpicture of life on a convict ship. After
Fix this textthe convicts were landed, the voyage was
Fix this textcontinued to Sydney, where Sylvester
Fix this textBrowne called his house Enmore—and
Fix this textnamed a Sydney suburb.
Fix this textFor ten years, from 1830 to 1840, Thomas
Fix this textBrowne went to W. T. Cape’s old Sydney
Fix this textschool, which was transformed into the
Fix this textSydney College and later into the Sydney
Fix this textGrammar School, and which educated so
Fix this textmany well-known Australians of its day.
Fix this textThe old man who died in Melbourne was
Fix this texta lad of 17 when the first representative
Fix this textlegislature of New South Wales com-
Fix this textmenced sittings in 1843. Then he aban-
Fix this textdoned books for the bush. He followed
Fix this texthis fathers and brothers, squatting in Vic-
Fix this texttoria, and drove his own mob of cattle
Fix this textfrom Melbourne to Port Fairy, founding
Fix this texta pioneer station. When he was 35 he
Fix this textabandoned Victoria for New South Wales,
Fix this textcattle for sheep; came to the Riverina,
Fix this textand was ruined by the droughts of the
Fix this text’sixties. Then, in 1870, he was appointed
Fix this texta New South Wales police magistrate and
Fix this textgoldfields commissioner, and passed 25
Fix this textyears of his life in that office until his re-
Fix this texttirement.
Fix this textRobbery Under Arms.
Fix this textRobbery Under Arms was republished in
Fix this textbook form in England in 1888 by the his-
Fix this texttoric house of Macmillan. The author
Fix this textsaid that the book earned him £l,BOO in
Fix this textthe first year, and not less than £2OO a year
Fix this textever since. With the original payment
Fix this textand the dramatic rights, the author’s re-
Fix this textward from that successful book probably
Fix this textexceeded £lO,OOO, and apparently the in-
Fix this textcome will continue for years.
Fix this textThe Australian value of the book is
Fix this textthat perhaps seven-tenths of it is Aus-
Fix this texttralian truth. The dashing bushranger
Fix this text“Starlight” is the least real figure; he is
Fix this text| not one man, but a composite of Frank
Fix this textGardiner and Browne’s imagination, and
Fix this texthe never seems quite the individual he pur-
Fix this textports to be. But the bush boys and bush
Fix this textgirls, and particularly the old father, Ben
Fix this textMarston taken directly from Browne's
Fix this textobservation of life—are as natural as trees.
Fix this textBy 1880 Browne had learned to seize the
Fix this textliveliest incidents within his reach, and the
Fix this textcattle robbery at Bowen Downs in Queens-
Fix this textland, the attack on Mr. Keightley at Rock-
Fix this textley, near Bathurst, the shooting episodes,
Fix this textand the rest, are seized from the fact. The
Fix this textbushrangers’ refuge was said by the author
Fix this textto be described from a sunk valley near
Fix this textTamworth. But it needed Browne’s re-
Fix this textmarkable knowledge of bush life to har-
Fix this textmonise his characters, incidents, and scenes.
Fix this textHe has had imitators since 1880, but none
Fix this textwho comes within cooey of his masterpiece
Fix this textBrowne’s Other Books.
Fix this textNo other book of Browne’s approaches
Fix this textthe literary value of Robbery Under Arms,
Fix this textand most of his score of published volumes
Fix this textare buried. People who want pictures of
Fix this textpastoral and mining development may still
Fix this textturn to A Squatter’s Dream and T'he
Fix this textMiner’s Right—A Colonial Reformer and
Fix this textA Sydneyside Saxon; —but these earlier
Fix this textbooks seem often like the work of a
Fix this textfatigued and disappointed man. All
Fix this textBrowne’s success as an author was not
Fix this textable to make him forget that, not by his
Fix this textown fault, he had failed in his chosen
Fix this textcareer of a squatter. There is one book
Fix this textin which he relates the high hopes of his
Fix this textyouth, a book encumbered by trivialities,
Fix this textyet still delightful to many an Australian
Fix this textin its reminiscences of “the old Colonial
Fix this textDays.” That is Old Melbourne Memories.
Fix this textIt seems to be written from the diary kept
Fix this textby the author as a young Victorian in the
Fix this text’fifties; a fine echo of youth and high
Fix this textspirits resounds through. And, as Richard
Fix this textBirnie, an old Victorian writer, once said:
Fix this text“A young man is a man upon a man.”
Fix this textBrowne’s character of sentiment and
Fix this textsimplicity seems to have contained, in later
Fix this textyears, a considerable admixture of worldly
Fix this textshrewdness. His purchase from Louis
Fix this textBecke of the manuscript of A Modern
Fix this textBuccaneer, to be padded with Browne’s
Fix this textinept additions and published originally as
Fix this textBrowne’s work without acknowledgment of
Fix this textBecke’s authorship of nearly two-thirds of
Fix this textthe work, did not serve for his credit. An
Fix this textattempt at New Zealand romance, War to
Fix this textthe Knife, distorting history and blunder-
Fix this texting in regard to the country, was another
Fix this textexample of Browne’s error in continuing
Fix this textto write and publish in his old age.
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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(1911). The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Retrieved September 11, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-820753000
The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Sydney: Bookfellow, 1911. Web. 11 September 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-820753000>
1911, The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade Bookfellow, Sydney viewed 11 September 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-820753000
{{Citation
|
| title=The bookfellow : the Australasian review and journal of the Australasian book trade.
| year=1911
| section=v. ; 32 cm.
| edition=Trade ed.
| issue=Vol. 5 No. 6 (15 April 1920)
| location=Sydney
| publisher=Bookfellow
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-820753000
| id=nla.obj-820753000
| access-date=11 September 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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