Historical information

Rolf Boldrewood (1826-1915)
‘Rolf Boldrewood’ is the pen-name used by Thomas Alexander Browne as a writer. Browne was the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown and Elizabeth Angell nee Alexander. He was born in London on 6th August 1826 and arrived in Australia with his parents and siblings when he was 5 years old and grew up in Sydney. In the 1860’s Browne added the ‘e’ to his surname.
As a 17 year old Browne took up land in the Western District of Victoria between Portland and Port Fairy on a property named “Squattlesea Mere”. He remained there until 1858, enjoying the squatters’ life on his 32,000 acre property, growing potatoes and running cattle and horses. He sold in 1858 and purchased a sheep station on the Murray River near Swan Hill. He later sold this and bought another sheep station near Narrandera until bad seasons and severe droughts eventually caused him to change his career after 25 years as a squatter.
Over the next 25 years Browne held the position of Police Magistrate and as a gold commissioner in various locations.
His third career as an author lasted approximately 40 years. In 1865 he wrote two articles on pastoral life while he was recovering from a riding accident. In the 1870’s his writing was bringing in the income to support his family, changing his focus to the writing of novels. A series of these was written for the Australian market and published in The Sydney Mail and the Centennial Magazine. His later novels were aimed at the overseas markets.
His best known novel “Robbery Under Arms” was written from 1882 to 1883 and has been serialised on radio in Australia and Britain. The novel was filmed in 1907, 1920 and 1957, and in 1985 it was made into a television series. It is now an Australian Classic.
He also wrote short stories, several nonfiction graziers’ guides, and an autobiography named “Old Melbourne Memories” in 1884.
[This information has been taken from Wikipedia; Australian Authors-Perry Meddlemiss; Australian Dictionary of Biography, Browne, Thomas Alexander (1826-1915)]

Physical description

Old Melbourne Memories 1
Author: Rolf Boldrewood
Publisher: MacMillan & Co
Date: 1896

Inscriptions & markings

Label on spine with typed text R.A. 994.5 BOL