Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Joseph Charles Byrne (?1800-?1863) was an entrepreneurial immigration agent and author of a series of emigration guides. Emigrant's Guide to New South Wales Proper, Australian Felix, and South Australia was been reprinted in numerous editions. The eighth edition (1848) was prefaced with the statement that Byrne has "laboured long and energetically" in the cause of emigration and that he saw emigration as a remedy for the pauperism and difficulties in Britain. The guide listed the prospects in Australia for mechanics and tradesmen, gave advice about appropriate outfits and conduct on the voyage to Australia, the costs of passage, climate, agriculture and manufacturing, the political system, and also provided information on the colonies of New South Wales, Port Phillip, and South Australia. Byrne also published Twelve Years' Wanderings in the British Colonies (1848), Emigrant’s Guide to New South Wales Proper (1848), and emigration guides to Port Natal and the Cape of Good Hope.