Historical information

Wilfred Clarence Busse 1898-1960, born in Chiltern, was a barrister and author. His family moved to the region during the gold rush and continued to reside in the area, purchasing land adjacent the Murray River.
Busse attended school at Wesley College and studied law at the University of Melbourne. Busse went on to become a barrister, often in the chambers of Sir Leo Finn Bernard Cussen (1859-1933) a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Time spent on a Victorian station in his early twenties, as well as careful documentary research, informed the writing of his historical novels of bush life.
"The Blue Beyond; A Romance of the Early Days in South Eastern Australia" was written in 1928 and published in 1930. "The Golden Plague: A Romance of the Early Fifties", written in 1930, won the T. E. Role gold medal for the best historical novel published that year and went on to become a best seller.
His passion for the region led him to write “The History of Chiltern”, which was published in a serial form in the Chiltern Federal Standard from 1922-1923.
He was a member of the Chiltern Athenaeum upon his death in 1960.

Significance

This book is of considerable importance to Chiltern Athenaeum as it was written by Wilfred Clarence Busse, a barrister and author born in Chiltern. Busse drew inspiration to write novels from his life growing up in Chiltern which is apparent in "The Blue Beyond; A Romance of the Early Days in South Eastern Australia".

Physical description

A small sized book in blue hardback binding, with the title and the author`s name in dark blue fonts at the top of the front cover. There are 288 pages.

Inscriptions & markings

Front cover:
The Blue Beyond/Wilfred C. Busse/

Title page:
The Blue Beyond/A Romance of the Early Days in South-Eastern Australia/by Wilfred C. Busse/
Hutchinson & Co (Publishers), LTD. /34-36 Paternoster Row, EC4 /