AustLit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

William Charles Wentworth, Esquire (1790-1872), was an explorer, author, barrister, landowner, and statesman, and shareholder of the Australian newspaper. In Statistical, Historical, and Political Description, he provides a depiction of the colonies with accompanying advice for emigrants. The work provides descriptive information about colonies, rather than traditional travel writing. This work was later reprinted under the title A Statistical Account of the British Settlements in Australia (third edition, 1824), although Wentworth noted that this edition was so different from the last, that it may as well have been considered a new work. The 1824 edition included a substantial appendix, directions and advice to emigrants, new maps, acts of parliament, and illustrations. According to the entry on Wentworth in the Australian Dictionary of Biography "His book did much to stimulate emigration".