Unexpected Literary Connection: Robert Louis Stevenson in Sydney

Along a harbor-side walkway in Sydney, Australia, in the shadow of the city’s iconic Opera House, some pedestrians paused to ponder what was written on bronze plaques embedded in the ground. But most people didn’t break stride, stepping on or over them without noticing what was beneath their feet. Just as I was walking by one plaque, a curious couple paused for a closer look. I stopped, too, and the name Robert Louis Stevenson jumped out.

The tribute is part of the Writers Walk, a series of 60 plaques leading around Sydney’s Circular Quay. Australian authors are commemorated, as well as other wordsmiths, like Stevenson, who visited or lived in the city. Each plaque features a brief biography and an excerpt of the author’s writing.

Stevenson sailed into Sydney on numerous occasions between 1890 and 1893. He spent the last years of his life in the South Pacific, eventually settling near Apia, Samoa. The abode he built on the island is now the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. When the adventurous scribe passed away in 1894 from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 44, Samoan natives he had befriended carried his body to a hilltop grave overlooking the sea.

Read about other unexpected literary connections:

Unexpected Literary Connection: Dorothy L. Sayers

Unexpected Literary Connection: Charles Dickens