19th-Century Australian Travel Writing
George Hodgson Wayte, M.A. (1832-1881) and Late Fellow of King's College Cambridge, chronicled his travels through the Australian colonies in his emigrant guide, Prospecting; or, Eighteen Months in Australia and New Zealand. In the preface, Wayte noted that his were not recent experiences, but that he would still be able to supply useful hints to intending emigrants. He established his work with the reason as to why he had emigrated – having read the account of life in the Australian bush and the success of emigrants as sheep and cattle farmers in Alfred Dudley. Wayte's conversational narrative described Melbourne and Victorian pastimes, the gold diggings, farming and agriculture, experiences in the bush, as well as his travels to New South Wales and North Queensland. The work is interspersed with historical information about explorers, and concludes with his return to England on the overland route.
