Biographical entry: Rowcroft, Charles (1798 - 1856)
- Born
- 1798
- Died
- 1856
- Occupation
- Writer
Summary
Charles Rowcroft, novelist, arrived in Hobart in 1821 and took up a large land grant near Bothwell. Initially he prospered, becoming a Justice of the Peace and a shareholder of the Van Diemen's Land Bank; but after he had an affair with Maria Lord, Edward Lord sued him and Rowcroft ended up almost a pauper.
Details
Rowcroft left in 1825, and in England ran a boarding school and published a novel, Tales of the Colonies (1843), one of the first Australian novels. Rowcroft explained the advantages of taking up land in the colonies, and described the experiences of a settler, with melodramatic additions about Aborigines and bushrangers. Six further novels were inferior, but one attacked the belief that transportation was a passport to opportunity, wealth and ease.
Alison Alexander