AustLit

A.J. Evelyn was educated at Trinity College Dublin. Soon after his arrival in New South Wales, he was appointed editor of the Illustrated Sydney News, and for a brief period he moved within Sydney press and literary circles. In 1856, Evelyn gained notoriety, when in an agitated state, he assaulted the New South Wales Premier (H.W. Parker), whom he believed was implicated in his dismissal from the New South Wales Survey Office, where he had been employed as a clerk. Evelyn was subsequently sentenced to six months' imprisonment, but at the instigation of the Premier, was released after serving only part of the sentence. He died not long afterwards.

As far as can be established, Evelyn's only separately published work was his lengthy English Alice: A Poem in Five Cantos (1852), which was written prior to his arrival in Australia.