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For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke. Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872. For its depictions of the brutality and inhumanity of Australia's penal colonies, the novel has been recognized as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian Gothic literature. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father. Sent to Van Diemen's Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and steadies himself for life in some of the world's most notorious penal colonies. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Although Dawes warns the Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of his life. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan his unlikely escape. This edition of Marcus Clarke's For the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.
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About the author
Marcus Clarke (1846-1881) was an Australian novelist, journalist, poet, and librarian. Born in London, Clarke was educated at Highgate School, where he was a classmate of poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. Orphaned in 1862, Clarke emigrated to Australia the following year. After toiling as a bank clerk in Melbourne, he moved to a remote station along the Wimmera River and learned the art of farming. In 1867, having published several stories for the
Australian Magazine, Clarke found steady work with
The Argus and
The Australasian back in Melbourne, gaining a reputation as a popular journalist of urban life. In 1870, after taking a trip to Tasmania to report on the status of the nation's penal colonies, Clarke began publishing his novel
For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) in serial installments in
The Australian Journal. The work was quickly recognized as a classic of Australian literature, earning its author comparisons to such literary titans as Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Towards the end of his life, Clarke worked as an assistant librarian at the Melbourne Public Library-now the State Library Victoria-where many of his manuscripts, notebooks, letters, and diaries are held today.
Summary
For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke. Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872. For its depictions of the brutality and inhumanity of Australia’s penal colonies, the novel has been recognized as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian Gothic literature. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father. Sent to Van Diemen’s Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and steadies himself for life in some of the world’s most notorious penal colonies. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Although Dawes warns the Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of his life. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan his unlikely escape. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcus Clarke’s For the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers.
