Browne family - Papers, 1884, 1908, 1916

MLMSS 6135/Box 1X

fonds

1884, 1908, 1916

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs

107278

Microfilm : CY 4618, frames 1-202 (MLMSS 6135)

0.16 metres of textual material (1 outsize box) includes photographs
Textual Records - (manuscript)

Thomas Alexander Browne (1826-1915), pastoralist, police magistrate and gold commissioner, but best known as the novelist 'Rolf Boldrewood' was born in England and came to Australia at the age of five. In 1844 he took up a cattle run in the Portland district. In 1861 he married Margaret Maria Riley with whom he had four sons and five daughters. In 1869 severe droughts forced him to give up squatting. In 1871 he was appointed a police magistrate at Gulgong and a year later gold commissioner. In 1881 he was transferred to Dubbo, in 1884 to Armidale and in 1887 to Albury. In 1895 he retired to Melbourne. His third career as novelist began in 1873 and during the next seven years he had seven novels published as serials in various magazines. His most famous novel, Robbery Under Arms, was first serialised in the Sydney Mail during 1881-82. In 1888 it was published as a book in London, achieving international popularity. For the next seventeen years he continued to write stories, articles and novels. His wife also published a book - The Flower Garden in Australia (1893) under the pseudonym 'Mrs Rolf Boldrewood' and his daughter, as Rose Boldrewood, wrote a novel, The Complications at Collaroi (1911).

1884; Diary of Emma Browne (T.A. Browne's daughter), written when she was 16-17 years old. It records various extended holidays with family and friends, details of new clothes, books she has read, her enthusiasm for new dance steps and the pieces she is practising on the piano. In August 1884 her father was transferred from Dubbo to Armidale as Police Magistrate, and Emma's diary records the process of settling into her new life there - refurbishing the house, picnics, tennis parties and endless visitors to tea.
1908; Two letters from T.A. Browne to his daughter Emma dated 10 and 20 December 1908. The earlier letter, which describes a visit to Dhuninghile, is incomplete. In the later letter he thanks her for a copy of Queen Victoria's letters, recounts anecdotes about the Queen and her ministers, and gives family news.
1916; Diary of T.A. Browne's wife. It is very much a chronicle of day to day events such as gardening, the weather, and visits to family and friends. It also records the deaths of close friends, family members and the sons of friends killed during World War I.
undated; Photograph annotated "T.A. Browne family". It includes Browne, his wife, two sons and four daughters. Individuals are not identified.