Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Rambles at the Antipodes' authorship has been attributed to Edward Wilson, journalist and philanthropist. Following the failure of his calico-printing firm in Manchester in which he lost his savings, Wilson immigrated to Australia to become a sheep-farmer in 1841. In Australia, Wilson bought the Melbourne newspaper the Argus. Rambles at the Antipodes was first published as sketches for the newspaper, and Wilson states in the preface to his travel narrative that the content was not altered for its presentation as a book. The audience for Wilson's work was both colonists and the British public. Through these sketches Wilson makes a number of extreme remarks concerning Aboriginal peoples, which he states he does in order to attract attention to "the wrongs of the native races" and encourage legislation. Wilson's first person narrative is accompanied by coloured illustrations by S.T. Gill, and is a description of his overland journey from England to Australia. Its appendix includes practical information for the intending emigrant, including wages, populations, and revenue.