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John Sidney came to Australia in 1840. He spent ten years in the colony. On his return to England he told his brother Samuel about his experiences in Australia. Samuel wrote them down and they were published in Household Words 1850-1852. John returned to Australia and sent news back to his brother. Samuel Sidney never visited Australia. His novel Gallops and Gossips in the Bush of Australia is based on his brother's information.
Notes
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During the early 2000s, on the basis of what he could then establish, Victor Crittenden was under the impression that the four short stories which appear in this selection had been written by John Lang, and so included them in his selection of Lang's stories titled Further Tales from Botany Bay (2005). Crittenden subsequently became aware that the four stories were in fact written by Samuel Sidney, and to set the record straight, republished them in this selection, where they appear with his introductory note.
Note that the works which appear in this selection were reproduced from Household Words, where they were originally published in the early 1850s as stand alone short stories. Sidney subsequently revised all of these stories for inclusion in his novel Gallops and Gossips in the Australian Bush (1854), where they form part of a more continuous narrative.
Contents
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Two-Handed Dick the Stockman : An Adventure in the Bush,
single work
short story
(p. 5-14)Tells the story of the stockman, Two-Handed Dick, and how he defeats a rampaging bull and later a group Aboriginal Australians with a musket in one hand and an axe in the other, the latter incident giving rise to his nickname.
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An Australian Ploughman's Story,
single work
short story
(p. 15-26)A story about a series of unfortunate events that lead to a young man's transportation to Australia. He suffers trials and tribulations until he has the good fortune to meet the anonymous narrator who helps the young man find stability in his life. Consequently, the transportee becomes a prosperous farmer and is reunited eventually with his wife and child. The message of the story is directed at English readers: 'tell the wretched and the starving [in England] how honest sober labour is sure of full reward here [in Australia]. Tell them that poverty may be turned to competence, crime to repentence and happiness'.
- Going to the Dogs, single work short story (p. 27-33)
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Christmas Day in the Bush,
single work
short story
(p. 34-38)A burning Christmas Day outback in 1840 and two English stockmen, left without food, journey to their Devon neighbour's station and join his generous Christmas party. One of the pair enjoys not only the repast but the fair company - and later marries her. Slight, colourful, cheery, egalitarian yarn: well-connected Englishmen meet successful once-starving Devon family in the land of opportunity. The earlier version includes the reminiscence it stirs of an English Christmas in 1832 when poverty forced his family to emigrate ...(PB)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
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y
Gallops and Gossips in the Bush of Australia, or, Passages in the Life of Alfred Barnard
1854
single work
novel
From a roving, largely outdoors, education in England and France, the narrator - an orphan - becomes unfitted for an office profession and emigrates to Australia. The stories recount aspects of his life in the colony. The narrator finally returns to England - near York - for Christmas. He hears sad tales of England's poor but finds rich welcome with his family - and a wife.
