19th-Century Australian Travel Writing
Writer and editor Ellen Barlee (1825-1893) was the sister of West Australian colonial secretary Sir Frederick Palgrave Barlee, and Queensland Parliamentary reporter, journalist and editor, Charles Haynes Barlee. Ellen Barlee's (1825-1893) emigration guide to Victoria is part of her brother Charles Barlee's series of emigration papers written for working-class Britons. It provided a description on the climate, soil, products, population, wages, and general inducements offered to different classes of emigrants. The preface noted that this guide was intended to educate those who are unaware of the advantages of emigration, both in terms of independence and collateral gain. It focussed on Melbourne, and the economic rewards from the gold discovered in the region. Barlee also wrote the emigrant guide Western Australia.
