Cirrus@Austlit

Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing

Pastoralist, colonial magistrate and novelist Charles Rowcroft's (1798-1856) The Perils and Adventures of Mr. William Thornley. One of the Pioneer Settlers of Van Diemen's Land, 1817-1830, was identical to his Tales of Tasmania, or Adventures of an Emigrant (1845) and Tales of the Colonies; or, The Adventures of an Emigrant (1845), and very similar to his The Australian Crusoes; or, The Adventures of an English Settler and his Family in the Wilds of Australia (1870). Tales of Tasmania is noted as being the first Australian novel of emigrant genre, this his identical and similar works were also fiction. In each of these incarnations, Australia was presented as a country where families could own land and prosper. The narrative presented as a journal narrated in the first person and it was an account of Rowcroft's life in Australia, and dedicated to his children’s children. The journal included a description of the colony, in particular how the convict system had shaped it, but also featured Rowcroft's adventures and challenges within Van Diemen's Land. It concluded with an account of the wealth of the Emigrant after fourteen years in Australia, which supported Rowcroft's reasoning for emigrating. Novelistic and sensational in style, the works described "the Perils, difficulties and adventures of a pioneer settler in Van Diemen's Land," including daily life, flora and fauna, as well as "graphic narratives of encounters with Blacks and Bushrangers" (Preface). In addition to the above works, Rowcroft also published An Emigrant in Search of a Colony (1851)