AustLit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Ellen Clacy (nee Ellen Sturmer, 1830–1901) wrote her travel narrative ‘on the spot' during her visit to the Victorian gold diggings in 1852-53. Describing the initial voyage to Australia and a visit to Melbourne, Clacy then narrates life in the Victorian bush, including camping, digging, and her general adventures, which is followed by an account of New South Wales and South Australia. Illustrated with a number of engravings, A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings is written in diary form, explaining Clacy’s journey in an engaging and conversational manner. Clacy concludes her work with an appendix detailing who should emigrate to Australia, giving the characteristics of women who would be suitable to emigrate, wages for female servants, the costs, and the efficiency of the police. She commented that the colonial cities were degraded, as although buildings were proposed but there was a lack of workers to build them. After this first publication, Clacy pursued an active literary and journalistic career, sometimes using the pseudonym "Cycla", her novels include Lights and Shadows of Australian Life (1854), Passing Clouds (1858), and Aunt Dorothy's Will (1860).