Joseph Mason was an English agricultural labourer convicted and transported for taking part in mass protests against the introduction of threshing machines, which were threatening to destroy the livelihood of English rural workers. He was a fluent writer and a voracious reader. He vividly describes life on the frontier, his encounters with Aboriginal people, and the flora and fauna of the bush. He tells of the living and working conditions of assigned convicts, and early horticultural and farming practices. The description of his explorations along the Nepean River captures the dramatic landscape of the gorge. (Adapted from the Melbourne University Press website:
http://www.mup.unimelb.edu.au/catalogue/0_522_84746_3.html)
