Thomas Alexander Browne
Thomas Alexander Browne (born Brown, 6 August 1826 – 11 March 1915) was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms.
Biography
Browne was born in
When his father moved to
Browne was an experienced
Literary career
Browne spent around twenty-five years as a squatter and about the same time as a government official, but his third career as author extended over forty years. In 1865, while recovering from a riding accident, he wrote two articles on pastoral life in Australia for the
In 1884 Old Melbourne Memories, a book of reminiscences of the eighteen-forties was published at Melbourne, "by Rolf Boldrewood, author of My Run Home, The Squatter's Dream and Robbery Under Arms". These had appeared in the Sydney Town and Country Journal and The Sydney Mail, but only The Squatter's Dream had been published in book form and then under the title of Ups and Downs. The name Boldrewood came from a line in the poem Marmion by Browne's favourite author, Sir Walter Scott.
In 1888
Recognition
Named in his honour, the Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards were awarded annually from 2006 to 2017 by the Macquarie Regional Library.[3]
Family
Browne married Margaret Maria Riley (daughter of W. E. Riley and granddaughter of Alexander Riley) in 1860. She was the author of The Flower Garden in Australia, published in 1893, and survived him with two sons and five daughters, one of whom, "Rose Boldrewood", published a novel The Complications at Collaroi in 1911. Fourth daughter Louisa Browne married mine manager
His sister, Emma, had married Molesworth Richard Greene of Woodlands, near Sunbury and thus connecting him to Sir William Stawell, and also the Chomley family (Hussey Malone Chomley, Judge Arthur Wolfe Chomley and Charles Henry Chomley).
A brother, Sylvester John Browne was a mine manager.
Bibliography
Novels
- My Run Home (1874)
- The Squatter's Dream: A Story of Australian Life (1875) [aka Ups and Downs : A Story of Australian Life]
- A Colonial Reformer (1876)
- Babes in the Bush (1877) [aka An Australian Squire]
- Robbery Under Arms (1882)
- The Sealskin Coat (1884–1885) [aka The Sealskin Mantle]
- The Crooked Stick, or, Pollie's Probation (1885) [aka The Final Choice, or, Pollie's Probation]
- The Sphinx of Eaglehawk: A Tale of Old Bendigo (1887)
- A Sydney-Side Saxon (1888)
- Nevermore (1889–1890)
- The Miner's Right : A Tale of the Australian Goldfields (1890)
- A Modern Buccaneer (1894)
- Plain Living: A Bush Idyll (1898)
- War to the Knife', or Tangata Maori (1899)
- The Ghost-Camp, or, The Avengers (1902)
- The Last Chance: A Tale of the Golden West (1905)
Short story collections
- A Romance of Canvas Town and Other Stories (1898)
- In Bad Company and Other Stories (1901)
Autobiography
- Thomas Alexander Browne (1896), Wikidata Q19084469
Non-fiction
- S. W. Silver & Co's Australian Grazier's Guide : 1. Sheep [and] II. Cattle (1879)
- S. W. Silver & Co.'s Australian Grazier's Guide (1879)
- S. W. Silver & Co.'s Australian Grazier's Guide : No. II – Cattle. (1881)
References
- T. Inglis Moore, 'Browne, Thomas Alexander (Rolf Boldrewood) (1826–1915)', MUP, 1969, pp 267–269.
- Serle, Percival (1949). "Browne, Thomas Alexander". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
- ^ Introduction to Robbery Under Arms by Dr. A. T. Brissenden, The Discovery Press, 1968
- ^ "How I Began to Write", The Town and Country Journal, 1 October 1898
- ^ Macquarie Regional Library
External links
- Works by Rolf Boldrewood in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
- Works by Rolf Boldrewood at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Thomas Alexander Browne at Faded Page (Canada)
- Works by Rolf Boldrewood at Project Gutenberg Australia
- Works by or about Rolf Boldrewood at Internet Archive
- Works by Rolf Boldrewood at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Thomas Alexander Browne (1826–1915) Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic)
- Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.