AustLit

Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing

Sidney Smith (1805-1881), political agent and public speaker, wrote a book of advice and information for potential emigrants to the various British colonies. Whether To Go and Whither? begins with a lengthy introduction which aimed to highlight the advantages of emigration over life in England. It stated that "The question ceases to be 'Whether to go,' and resolves itself into 'Whither?'" (xv). The work was divided into sections addressing individual colonies, including the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, New Zealand, Australia, the Auckland Islands and the Falkland Islands. In the section on Australia, Smith described the climate, population, state of infrastructure (roads, etc), with individual sections detailing New South Wales, South Australia, Port Phillip, Western Australia, and Tasmania.