William Hay (2)

A bit of a slog, but as I write this on the book's 99th anniversary, I still think this is a fascinating historical and cultural document. William Gosse Hay was an odd man, a lonely writer from a well-off Adelaide family, one of the early prosperous Australians who tended to eschew social life and was fascinated by the still-young country's colonial past.

This is quite an adventure novel, a complex melodrama centered on a convict who did the crime he has been sentenced for, but still seeks to make a new life for himself in Australia, and preferably one that suits his gentlemanly background. The book follows a carousel of escapes and captures, unrequited love, underground criminals, and occasionally philosophy. Most interesting are the subplots (in that classic 19th century serialised style) including a fascinating old Aboriginal lady, Conapanny, and other stories such as a murder mystery that run alongside.

I really quite enjoyed this, but it's one of those novels that feels like a soap opera: there's no reason for the chapters to keep on unfolding in the way they do. Best read on a long journey, intermittently with other things. If nothing else, a fascinating insight into the literary tastes of early Australians, and the complex convict relationship that defined the first century of our colonial era.… (meer)