Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Charles H. Eden (1839-1900) was a public servant and writer. In the introductory chapter to his My Wife and I in Queensland, Eden explained that the work was intended to be a guide to potential emigrants. Eden argued that it was useful because it provided a record of both an English gentlemen and a lady's experience of the colony (Eden having married Georgina Hill, a fellow passenger on board the Queen of the Colonies). According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography this was a controversial text, presenting a disenchanted account of colonial life that was enough to warn potential emigrants from moving to Queensland. Dedicated to Georgina, Eden detailed in a conversational manner accounts of bush life, labour, incidents, experiences of gold digging, a view on the sugar plantations, and descriptions of society and social activities. He also included information on the Polynesian Labour Act, and the use of Polynesian labour in the colonies. Eden later published The Fifth Continent, With the Adjacent Islands; Being an Account of Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, With Statistical Information to the Latest Date (1877).