American author Jack London spent some months in Australia from 1908-1909 recuperating from illness contracted during his voyage in the South Pacific on his boat the Snark. Based mainly in Sydney, he also visited Melbourne and Tasmania and contributed six articles to the Sydney Star. He covered the world heavyweight title fight between black American Jack Johnson and Canadian Tommy Burns for the New York Herald. This may have been the inspiration for his story 'A Piece of Steak'.
In 1910 Jack London wrote an introduction for a proposed American edition of We of the Never Never but it was never published. The manuscript, in Jeannie Gunn's handwriting, is contained in a book of letters written to William Peter Hurst and the location is:- MS 6107, Box 169/1. William Peter Hurst papers. La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria.
