Marcus Clarke

Bunyips, boundary riders and bush-lurkers: just some of the horrors that populate these tales of the Antipodean uncanny. The Australian weird tradition may be a short one, but it’s as varied and rich as anything you’ll find in the Old World. Many of these tales – from the likes of Marcus Clarke, Sophie Osmond, Ernest Favenc and Mary Fortune – are written by strangers in a new land. Traditional European elements of the weird tale appear in new forms or are moulded afresh to a harsh new environment – the haunted house is no longer a rambling manor, but an abandoned shanty or rundown homestead; the ancient wood, the lair of evils and creatures from folklore, becomes the oppressively hot, fly-infested bush; and the windswept moor is the empty, endless Australian outback with its blood-read sands and emaciated myall trees. The anthology also includes Aboriginal voices, providing a very different take on the landscape and its horrors.

For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke. Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872. For its depictions of the brutality and inhumanity of Australia’s penal colonies, the novel has been recognized as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian Gothic literature. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father. Sent to Van Diemen’s Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and steadies himself for life in some of the world’s most notorious penal colonies. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Although Dawes warns the Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of his life. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan his unlikely escape. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcus Clarke’s For the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke. Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872. For its depictions of the brutality and inhumanity of Australia’s penal colonies, the novel has been recognized as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian Gothic literature. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father. Sent to Van Diemen’s Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and steadies himself for life in some of the world’s most notorious penal colonies. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Although Dawes warns the Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of his life. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan his unlikely escape. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcus Clarke’s For the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Reproduction of the original: For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

Reproduction of the original: For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

For the Term of his Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. For the Term of His Natural Life, written by Marcus Clarke, was published in the Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872 (as His Natural Life), appearing as a novel in 1874. It is the best known novelisation of life as a convict in early Australian history. At times relying on seemingly implausible coincidences, the story follows the fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder that he did not commit. The book clearly conveys the harsh and inhumane treatment meted out to the convicts, some of whom were transported for relatively minor crimes, and graphically describes the conditions the convicts experienced. The novel was based on research by the author as well as a visit to the penal settlement of Port Arthur, Tasmania.

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For the Term of His Natural LifeBy Marcus ClarkeFor the Term of His Natural Life, written by Marcus Clarke, was published in the Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872 (as "His Natural Life"), appearing as a novel in 1874. It is the best known novelisation of life as a convict in early Australian history. Described as a "ripping yarn," and at times relying on seemingly implausible coincidences, the story follows the fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder that he did not commit. The book clearly conveys the harsh and inhumane treatment meted out to the convicts, some of whom were transported for relatively minor crimes, and graphically describes the conditions the convicts experienced. The novel was based on research by the author as well as a visit to the penal settlement of Port Arthur, Tasmania.I have endeavoured in "His Natural Life" to set forth the working and the results of an English system of transportation carefully considered and carried out under official supervision; and to illustrate in the manner best calculated, as I think, to attract general attention, the inexpediency of again allowing offenders against the law to be herded together in places remote from the wholesome influence of public opinion, and to be submitted to a discipline which must necessarily depend for its just administration upon the personal character and temper of their gaolers.Your critical faculty will doubtless find, in the construction and artistic working of this book, many faults. I do not think, however, that you will discover any exaggerations. Some of the events narrated are doubtless tragic and terrible; but I hold it needful to my purpose to record them, for they are events which have actually occurred, and which, if the blunders which produced them be repeated, must infallibly occur again. It is true that the British Government have ceased to deport the criminals of England, but the method of punishment, of which that deportation was a part, is still in existence. Port Blair is a Port Arthur filled with Indian-men instead of Englishmen; and, within the last year, France has established, at New Caledonia, a penal settlement which will, in the natural course of things, repeat in its annals the history of Macquarie Harbour and of Norfolk Island.With this brief preface I beg you to accept this work. I would that its merits were equal either to your kindness or to my regard.

For the Term of His Natural Life, written by Marcus Clarke, was published in the Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872 (as His Natural Life), appearing as a novel in 1874. It is the best known novelisation of life as a convict in early Australian history. Described as a "ripping yarn", and at times relying on seemingly implausible coincidences, the story follows the fortunes of Rufus Dawes, a young man transported for a murder that he did not commit. Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 - 2 August 1881) was an Australian novelist and poet, best known for his novel For the Term of his Natural Life.