Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Percy Clarke (1861-1948) wrote a first-person account of travel in Australia. The "New Chum" in Australia is an amusing narrative, containing entertaining anecdotes from his travels in Australia. Clarke establishes the work with a description of his travel to Australia, before moving on to describe his daily life, travels across the east coast of, and the Aboriginal, Chinese, and South Sea Islander communities he encounters. Clarke emphasised the cultural differences between the "New Chums" (those having just arrived in Australia who are pitied for their lack of knowledge) and the Colonials (those already established in Australia). He saw his guide as being intended to ease the reader, the potential "New Chum", into an awareness of the Australian colonies. The work was accompanied by Clarke's own sketches, which are now held in the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales.