Land, Labour, and Gold

This 1855 publication describes Howitt's colourful experiences in Melbourne and the goldfields during the 1850s Australian gold rush.

In 1852, William Howitt arrived in Melbourne, the new and burgeoning capital of Victoria, and headed for the Australian goldfields. His lively description of the growing city, the huge numbers of prospectors and profiteers, and the hardships of travel and mining, was published in 1855 after his return to London.In 1852 William Howitt (1792–1879) set sail for Australia with two of his sons in order to try his luck in the goldfields of Victoria. By then he was already a prolifically published author of both prose and verse. He was only moderately successful as a gold-digger, but his account of life in the new colony, published in 1855 after his return to England, provides an extraordinary snapshot of the rapid early growth of Melbourne. Volume 1 covers Howitt's first impressions of Australia, his experiences on the journey to the diggings at Bendigo, the throngs of prospectors, the exorbitant prices charged by profiteering merchants, and the miners' protest over high government licence fees. He describes the hard life endured by the diggers and warns against women coming to the colony.