Cirrus@Austlit

This work was initially published as a serial in the Month in 1858, under the title 'Charles Wotton; or Bush Life in Australia'. The first 5 instalments appeared in the April-August issues. The 6th and final instalment appeared in the December 1858 issue. It was subsequently published as a serial in the Moreton Bay Courier in 1859, where it was titled ' Bush Life in Australia: An Original Tale'. It appeared in the Moreton Bay Courier in 8 instalments between 14 May and 9 July, 1859. Note that the author's real identity was not indicated until the work was serialised in the Month for a second time in 1860, when it was attributed to William Wilkes.

After Wilkes's death in 1873, J. Sheridan Moore who had been editor of the Month published a longer version of the tale under his own name in the Tamworth News, of which he was editor. In 1878 he printed the story in the Sydney University Magazine. The Sydney Evening News detected the plagiarism but Moore claimed entire authorship. He published his refutation in the advertising pages of the magazine to avoid preservation with bound copies. (Adapted from Rosilyn Baxter, 'Wilkes, William Charles (1816? - 1873)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, MUP, (1976): 398-399).