AustLit

Nineteeth-Century Travel Writing

Melbourne born Donald Alaster Macdonald (1859-1932) was a journalist, nature writer, war correspondent, sports writer and columnist. Macdonald wrote for the Corowa Free Press, Australasian and the Argus. Gum Boughs and Wattle Bloom was originally published in the Argus under the initials "D.M.," and in the Australasian under the nom de plume "Gnuyang" (gossip). It was poetic in its prose, with Macdonald presenting commentaries on Australian fauna, flora and the out back, including casual observations of life in the Australian colonies. Although these sketches were engaging, Macdonald was at times opinionated and the discourse hyperbolic in tone. A second, identical, edition was published in 1888. Macdonald was a prolific writer of bush books for boys in the 1900s, and as a nature writer, influenced an entire generation of Australians, with many children first seeing their country through the eyes of Macdonald. Under the pseudonym “the Observer” Macdonald wrote as a sports columnist and according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, revolutionised cricket reporting. His other books included The Warrigal’s Well (1901); Tourists’ Handbook of Australia (1905); Bush Boys Book (1911); At the End of the Moonpath (1922); The Brooks of Morning (1933).