AustLit

19th-Century Australian Travel Writing

Life's Work as it Is was published anonymously by "A Colonist." Written in a novelistic and humourous manner, this text portrays conversations of Harry and Mary, with dramatized arguments for and against emigration to Australia. Building and emphasising stereotypes about Australia, the work describes the voyage to the colonies, Christmas in the heat of summer, a stereotyped ‘ugliness’ that was percieved of Aboriginal populations, bush fires, the flora and fauna, and the similarities between some aspects of Australia and England. Chapter nine provides practical hints to emigrants, which was mirrored in the appendix that explained wages and other useful information for those intending to travel to the colonies.