His Natural LifeHis Natural Life has retained Australian classic status for over one hundred years. Scarcely ever out of print since first written during the early 1870s, it has provided successive generations with a vivid account of a brutal phase of colonial life. The main focus of this great convict novel is the complex interaction between those in power and those who suffer, made meaningful because of its hero's struggle against the destructiveness of his wrongful imprisonment. While much of the story is necessarily grim, Marcus Clarke has used elements of romance, incidents of family life and passages of scenic description to both relieve and give emphasis to the tragedy that forms its heart. |
Contents
General Editors Foreword | vii |
List of Abbreviations | xvii |
PAGE DEDICATION | 13 |
PROLOGUE | 15 |
THE PRISON SHIP | 27 |
SARAH PURFOY | 36 |
THE MONOTONY BREAKS | 45 |
THE HOSPITAL | 49 |
AT PORT ARTHUR | 327 |
THE COMMANDANTS BUTLER | 332 |
MR NORTHS INDISPOSITION | 338 |
ONE HUNDRED LASHES | 347 |
KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS | 354 |
CAPTAIN AND MRS FRERE | 359 |
IN THE HOSPITAL | 364 |
THE CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION | 368 |
THE BARRACOON | 55 |
THE FATE OF THE HYDASPES | 62 |
TYPHUS FEVER | 73 |
A DANGEROUS CRISIS | 82 |
WOMANS WEAPONS | 90 |
EIGHT BELLS | 96 |
DISCOVERIES AND CONFESSIONS | 107 |
A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH III | 111 |
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF VAN DIEMENS LAND | 112 |
THE SOLITARY OF HELLS GATES | 116 |
A SOCIAL EVENING | 120 |
THE BOLTER | 131 |
MISS SYLVIA | 135 |
CHAP PAGE VI A LEAP IN THE DARK | 139 |
THE LAST OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR | 148 |
THE POWER OF THE WILDERNESS | 154 |
THE SEIZURE OF THE OSPREY | 161 |
JOHN REXS REVENGE | 168 |
LEFT AT HELLS GATES | 175 |
MR DAWES | 189 |
WHAT THE SEAWEED SUGGESTED | 199 |
A WONDERFUL DAYS WORK | 204 |
THE CORACLE | 213 |
THE WRITING ON THE SAND | 221 |
AT SEA | 227 |
A LABOURER IN THE VINEYARD | 234 |
SARAH PURFOYS REQUEST | 248 |
THE STORY OF TWO BIRDS OF PREY | 259 |
THE NOTORIOUS DAWES | 269 |
MAURICE FRERES GOOD ANGEL | 278 |
MR MEEKIN ADMINISTERS CONSOLATION | 284 |
RUFUS DAWES IDYLL | 290 |
AN ESCAPE | 295 |
JOHN REXS LETTER HOME | 300 |
WHAT BECAME OF THE MUTINEERS OF THE OSPREY | 310 |
A RELIC OF MACQUARIE HARBOUR | 324 |
A NATURAL PENITENTIARY | 372 |
A VISIT OF INSPECTION | 376 |
CHAP PAGE XXII GATHERING IN THE THREADS | 386 |
RUNNING THE GAUNTLET | 399 |
IN THE NIGHT | 406 |
THE FLIGHT | 413 |
THE WORK OF THE SEA | 418 |
THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH | 431 |
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV JAMES NORTH | 439 |
THE LOST HEIR | 452 |
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV JAMES NORTH | 465 |
REV JAMES NORTH | 474 |
MR RICHARD DEVINE SURPRISED | 479 |
IN WHICH THE CHAPLAIN IS TAKEN ILL | 485 |
BREAKING A MANS SPIRIT | 493 |
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV JAMES NORTH | 498 |
THE LONGEST STRAW | 503 |
A MEETING | 509 |
EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV JAMES NORTH | 517 |
THE STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF MR NORTH | 521 |
MR NORTH SPEAKS | 527 |
GETTING READY FOR SEA | 534 |
THE DISCOVERY | 544 |
FIFTEEN HOURS | 550 |
THE REDEMPTION | 553 |
THE CYCLONE | 559 |
EPILOGUE | 566 |
APPENDIX | 567 |
Clarke and Convictism | 573 |
Stage Screen and Other Versions of | 591 |
Note on Currency Temperature and Imperial | 606 |
Tables of Equivalence AJ and MB | 637 |
Editors Emendations | 657 |
Sample Collation | 679 |
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Common terms and phrases
appeared arms Arthur asked Australian authority Bates better Blunt boat brought called Captain Chapter child Clarke close Commandant convict course cried darkness dear death deck Devine don't door escape eyes face feel feet fellow felt fire Frere Gabbett give half hand Harbour head hear heard hope hour instant irons Island John Rex keep Lady Land laugh leave light live looked Lord Marcus Clarke Maurice Frere mean Meekin Miss morning murder Natural never night North novel once passed Pine poor Port present prison returned Richard rock round Rufus Dawes Sarah says seemed ship side soldiers sort story strange Sylvia taken tell thing thought took Town turned Vickers voice waiting wife woman young