y separately published work icon Social Life in Sydney; or, Colonial Experience : An Australian Tale single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1866... 1866 Social Life in Sydney; or, Colonial Experience : An Australian Tale
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature ed. William H. Wilde et. al. (1994): 638 says it deals 'with urban middle-class families attempting to overcome the stigma of convict antecedents; in Social Life in Sydney the brother and sister Margaret and Gerald Bright make their way in Sydney society through many reversals of fortune. Margaret marries Edmund Milner and leads a life of comfortable seclusion which is disrupted by the return of her convict father. Gerald prospers in business but is led into questionable speculation by Phryn, Milner's discredited clerk. The saintly Margaret dies in a bushfire while fulfilling her duty to her father, but Gerald repairs the family's fortune and wins happiness and respect.'

Notes

  • E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature from Its Beginnings to 1935 (1940): 606 comments: 'Social Life in Sydney, 1866, reissued and revised under the author's own name in 1914, is a narrative dealing witrh the amenities and jealousies affecting Sydney society, family life and business circles during the 'fifties and 'sixties, presented as an aftermath of convictism; with Hobart connections.'
  • Epigraph: Australia's skies are clear and bright, And brighter still they seem, Now that I only picture them In memory's waking dream. M.H.R.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Memories of Social Life in Australia Thirty Years Ago
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Grant Richards ,       1914 .
      Extent: 372p.
      Note/s:
      • Author's note: I must explain that Memories of Social Life in Australia, practically in the form of the present re-issue but under the title of Social Life in Sydney, was originally brought out many, many years ago by Messrs. R. Grant and Sons of Edinburgh. New incidents have been added, and towards the end reference is made to changes which have varied the aspect of Colonial life since the book was first written-changes so marked and progressive that they may be said to have wholly altered the conditions of residence in Australia. This, however, the writer has been assured, will only give the book additional interest to readers of to-day. E. P. R.-L. p.[5]
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Works about this Work

News of the Week 1866 single work review
— Appears in: The Leader , 8 September 1866; (p. 2)
— Review of Social Life in Sydney; or, Colonial Experience : An Australian Tale Isabel Massary , 1866 single work novel
News of the Week 1866 single work review
— Appears in: The Leader , 8 September 1866; (p. 2)
— Review of Social Life in Sydney; or, Colonial Experience : An Australian Tale Isabel Massary , 1866 single work novel
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Last amended 13 Apr 2018 09:34:13
Subjects:
  • Urban,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
Settings:
  • 1840-1860
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