Rolf Boldrewood
Thomas Alexander Browne (6 August 1826 – 11 March 1915) was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms.
Browne spent around twenty-
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Thomas Alexander Browne (6 August 1826 – 11 March 1915) was an Australian author who published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms.
Browne spent around twenty-five years as a squatter and about the same time as a government official, but his third career as author extended over forty years. In 1865, while recovering from a riding accident, he wrote two articles on pastoral life in Australia for the Cornhill Magazine, and he also began to contribute articles and serial stories to the Australian weeklies. One of these, Ups and Downs: a Story of Australian Life, was published in book form in London in 1878. It was well-reviewed but attracted little notice. It was re-issued as The Squatter's Dream in 1890.
In 1884 Old Melbourne Memories, a book of reminiscences of the eighteen-forties was published at Melbourne, "by Rolf Boldrewood, author of My Run Home, The Squatter's Dream and Robbery Under Arms". These had appeared in the Sydney Town and Country Journal and The Sydney Mail, but only The Squatter's Dream had been published in book form and then under the title of Ups and Downs. The name Boldrewood came from a line in the poem Marmion by Browne's favourite author, Sir Walter Scott.
In 1888 Robbery Under Arms appeared in three volumes and its merits were immediately recognized. Several editions were printed before the close of the century. At the beginning of this novel the narrator, Dick Marston, is awaiting execution for crimes committed whilst he was a bushranger. He goes on to tell the story of his life and loves and his association with the notorious Captain Starlight. Some of the events in the book are based on actual incidents carried out by contemporary bushrangers like Daniel Morgan, Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, James Alpin McPherson, and John Gilbert. Robbery under Arms has remained popular since its first publication in 1888; the novel was filmed in 1907 (a version by Tait brothers and a version by Charles MacMahon), 1920, and 1957. A television series was made in 1985. The novel has also been serialized on radio in both Australia and Britain.
Named in his honour, the 'Rolf Boldrewood Literary Awards' are awarded annually by the Macquarie Regional Library.
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