What do you think?
Town Life In Australia
Although most educated people know that Melbourne- Sydney- and Adelaide are populous towns- I should doubt whether one Englishman- who has not been to Australia- out of a hundred realizes that fact.' (Excerpt from Chapter 1)
247 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2023
A bit of a hoot to read, written in 1883 covering many aspects of Australian life and warning, it is racist in parts.
A quote - "The Australian working-man is perhaps too well paid to suit us poor folks who are dependant upon him." "It is very trying to have - as I recently had - to go to four plumbers before I could get one to do a small job for me, and still more trying to find the fourth man fail me after he had promised to come."
Comparing Sydney to Melbourne to Adelaide and very amusing
A quote - "The Australian working-man is perhaps too well paid to suit us poor folks who are dependant upon him." "It is very trying to have - as I recently had - to go to four plumbers before I could get one to do a small job for me, and still more trying to find the fourth man fail me after he had promised to come."
Comparing Sydney to Melbourne to Adelaide and very amusing
August 20, 2026
A wonderful account of life in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in 1883. Easy to read and really informative and interesting
May 3, 2012
I picked this book up for 2 reasons:
1) it promised me an epistolary format.
2) I was curious what Australia was like 100 years before Bill Bryson visited and wrote about his journey in the book In a Sunburned Country.
As to the letter format, it leaves me quite wanting. The book is "based" on a series of letters by the author to parties unknown. Worst of all, they were reassembled into a book WITHOUT the knowledge of the author although he was quite happily living in New Zealand at the time!
Although the book can be quite interesting at times (who knew what an impressive metropolis Melbourne was then), there are aspects to it that are very dry. For example, there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER on furniture. Another one on food, which really is all nearly exclusively about booze. The people in these letters are described almost like wildlife... like animals with specific modes and patterns of behaviour and do not deviate from these at all apparently. One maid is just like another in her manner of dress, disposition, behaviour and her very being for example. He never ever seems to have a conversation with anyone either. It is very strange.
Overall it's good for Australian Historians but boring as heck for a layperson. Skip it.
1) it promised me an epistolary format.
2) I was curious what Australia was like 100 years before Bill Bryson visited and wrote about his journey in the book In a Sunburned Country.
As to the letter format, it leaves me quite wanting. The book is "based" on a series of letters by the author to parties unknown. Worst of all, they were reassembled into a book WITHOUT the knowledge of the author although he was quite happily living in New Zealand at the time!
Although the book can be quite interesting at times (who knew what an impressive metropolis Melbourne was then), there are aspects to it that are very dry. For example, there's an ENTIRE CHAPTER on furniture. Another one on food, which really is all nearly exclusively about booze. The people in these letters are described almost like wildlife... like animals with specific modes and patterns of behaviour and do not deviate from these at all apparently. One maid is just like another in her manner of dress, disposition, behaviour and her very being for example. He never ever seems to have a conversation with anyone either. It is very strange.
Overall it's good for Australian Historians but boring as heck for a layperson. Skip it.
February 7, 2013
An amusing commentry of early colonial life. Conversational and more than a bit silly in places! A kind of early Lonely Planet. Each chapter was a letter on a subject - social relations, servants, Sydney, etc. Mutterings about the colonies, the Irish, children - a product of it's time with a reasonably enlightened author. An enjoyable fun read and a useful documentry resource.
July 2, 2019
Reading as an ebook free from Project Gutenberg, I’m catching up on Australian History as my education is sadly lacking. An informative and insightful account of the main cities of Australia during the 1880’s. Published London 1883.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews