AustLit

Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing

Louisa Anne Meredith (nee Tawmley, 1812 - 1895) was an artist, poet, novelist and travel writer. Her travel narrative Travels and Stories in our Gold Colonies presented her journey to the gold colonies of Victoria, originally published earlier in 1861 under the title Over the Straits: A Visit to Victoria. Meredith prefaced the work by stating she has only included information that directly related to her own personal journey, rather than including information for travellers intending to visit the region. She explained that she feels defrauded when reading travel narratives that provide the history of a place, rather than the actual travels of the writer. Through this illustration of Victoria, Meredith detailed her experiences of the flora and fauna of the colony, the society and town life, her travels along the road, and observations of the telegraph and horse breaking, in a conversational and personalised narrative. Meredith also published Notes and Sketches of New South Wales, During a Residence in that Colony from 1839 to 1844 (1844), My Home in Tasmania, during a Residence of Nine Years (1852), and Tasmanian Friends and Foes Feathered, Furred and Finned: A Family Chronicle of Country Life, Natural History, and Veritable Adventure (1881).