Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 Watkin Tench's Sentimental Enclosures : Original Relations from the First Settlement
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Mitchell discusses Tench's motives behind his writings on the First Settlement, arguing that he attempted to produce entertaining works, carefully selecting events, language and literary conventions for that purpose. This is seen most clearly in his use of a tableau that dramatically presents the meeting of the "primitive" with the "civilised" as an ailing aborigine and his son are cared for by the European settlers. But despite the sentimentality and light-heartedness of much of his writing, Tench was pessimistic about the future of Australia, and gave a negative view of the colony in his books.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 26 May 2015 14:13:19
23-33 /austlit/page/0?nodeType=fullText&ftdir=1087242566565939120-548136&ftaid=C414311 Watkin Tench's Sentimental Enclosures : Original Relations from the First Settlementsmall AustLit logo Australian & New Zealand Studies in Canada
X