Cirrus@Austlit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Although the work was published anonymously, Voice from the Bush was attributed to Thomas Pope Besnard (1808-1878), who had a colourful and varied colonial career, including as a singer in an Irish theatre company, restaurateur, sexton, and landholder (with regular court appearances). This emigrant guide is structured through a series of letters that are intended to encourage prudent and industrious emigrants to travel to the Australian colonies. Besnard noted in his preface that the publication of this guide was a necessity as it would vitally affect or direct the prospects and fortunes of a large portion of the subjects of Great Britain. The letters had been mainly sent from New South Wales. The book includes appendices extracted from the Sydney Colonist and the New South Wales Almanack.