Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Edward Curr's (1798-1850) emigrant guide An Account of the Colony was written in response to Thomas Godwin's Godwin's Emigrant's Guide to Van Diemen's Land (1821). Curr noted that Godwin's guide contained false and delusive assertions on emigration, and that he had constructed his text to "undeceive" those who may be disposed to act on the information contained in Godwin's guide. Curr does not recommend emigration, but for an occasion that emigration has been decided upon, he listed the advantages of Van Diemen's Land as a colony. Australia was described as a novelty for the emigrant, that soon ceases, and the solitude of the remote region was not pleasing. The work was later published as Three Years' Residence in Van Diemen's Land; Comprising a Description of that Rising Colony, its Advantages and Prospects, Commerce, Manners, Customs, &c. of its Inhabitants, With an Account of the Bush-Rangers, Forming a Practical Guide to Emigrants & Settlers (1834).. He was a member of the Upper House and according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, a conscientious Catholic.