AustLit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Francis Adams (1862-1893)—poet, novelist, commentator and radical—immigrated to Melbourne in 1884 due to illness. In Australia Adams wrote for the Brisbane Courier, for William Lane's Boomerang, and for the Bulletin, and tutored on up-country stations. A prolific writer, Adams' works include Leicester: An Autobiography (1885), republished as A Child of the Age (1894); Australian Essays (1886); Poetical Works (1887); The Australians (1893); and Essays in Modernity (1899). He is best-known for his poetry collection Songs of the Army of the Night (1888). Australian Life chronicles Adams’ internal travels in the colonies and is divided geographically into two parts: reminiscences of coastal or interior journeys. Novelistic in tone, this conversational narrative describes Australia through love stories, reminiscences, and family anecdotes as well as describing the author's travels in Queensland and New South Wales. The Tasmanian State Library edition was owned by the literary critic A.G. Stephens.