Martyn Lyons is Emeritus Professor in History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and a specialist in the history of reading and writing practices.

Martyn Lyons’s skilful wrangling of evidence from a very wide range of colonial Australian autobiographies reveal the colonists’ reading to have been far wider than present-day imperial or national lenses might have predicted. His method is delightfully eclectic, sensible, humane and fresh, while enlivened by the dual traditions of Anglophone and European book history.— Paul Eggert, Emeritus Professor, UNSW, Sydney, Australia.This is an important addition to the study of literature and literacy in colonial Australia, particularly to understanding how written works were received in the colonial period. It offers a major support to literature scholars by expanding the reading habits of the time with attention to ‘ordinary readers'. This feature breaks new ground in the study of the contemporary reception of colonial literature and provides a much-needed extension to literary study. —Bill Ashcroft, FAHA, Professor Emeritus, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW, Sydney, AustraliaThis very readable as well as scholarly work shows the extent to which literacy practices became indispensable to Australia by the end of the nineteenth century. Throughout its pages, this major historian once again demonstrates the extent to which reading and writing had become essential for the nation’s survival and cultural formation, and compellingly so. —Bill Bell, Cardiff University, UKMartyn Lyons shows us how literacy has been deployed across colonial Australia with a special focus on ‘feral’ readers and ordinary writers. Drawing on decades of scholarship, he warmly embraces the reading and writing of the dispossessed and the unsettled, noting their peculiarly Australian inflections. Instead of separating ‘ego-documents’ (memoirs, diaries and journals) from reading, these practices are considered alongside one another, which is a unique and compelling dimension of this accomplished book. —Brigid Magner, Media & Communication, RMIT University, Australia

• Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Readers and Writers in Colonial Australia; Part 1 Arriving; Part 2 Reading White Australia; Part 3 Convict and First Nation Literacies ; Part 4 Everyday Writings; Bibliography; Index

Martyn Lyons is Emeritus Professor in History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and a specialist in the history of reading and writing practices.

Martyn Lyons’s skilful wrangling of evidence from a very wide range of colonial Australian autobiographies reveal the colonists’ reading to have been far wider than present-day imperial or national lenses might have predicted. His method is delightfully eclectic, sensible, humane and fresh, while enlivened by the dual traditions of Anglophone and European book history.— Paul Eggert, Emeritus Professor, UNSW, Sydney, Australia.This is an important addition to the study of literature and literacy in colonial Australia, particularly to understanding how written works were received in the colonial period. It offers a major support to literature scholars by expanding the reading habits of the time with attention to ‘ordinary readers'. This feature breaks new ground in the study of the contemporary reception of colonial literature and provides a much-needed extension to literary study. —Bill Ashcroft, FAHA, Professor Emeritus, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW, Sydney, AustraliaThis very readable as well as scholarly work shows the extent to which literacy practices became indispensable to Australia by the end of the nineteenth century. Throughout its pages, this major historian once again demonstrates the extent to which reading and writing had become essential for the nation’s survival and cultural formation, and compellingly so. —Bill Bell, Cardiff University, UKMartyn Lyons shows us how literacy has been deployed across colonial Australia with a special focus on ‘feral’ readers and ordinary writers. Drawing on decades of scholarship, he warmly embraces the reading and writing of the dispossessed and the unsettled, noting their peculiarly Australian inflections. Instead of separating ‘ego-documents’ (memoirs, diaries and journals) from reading, these practices are considered alongside one another, which is a unique and compelling dimension of this accomplished book. —Brigid Magner, Media & Communication, RMIT University, Australia

• Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Readers and Writers in Colonial Australia; Part 1 Arriving; Part 2 Reading White Australia; Part 3 Convict and First Nation Literacies ; Part 4 Everyday Writings; Bibliography; Index

Martyn Lyons is Emeritus Professor in History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and a specialist in the history of reading and writing practices.

Martyn Lyons’s skilful wrangling of evidence from a very wide range of colonial Australian autobiographies reveal the colonists’ reading to have been far wider than present-day imperial or national lenses might have predicted. His method is delightfully eclectic, sensible, humane and fresh, while enlivened by the dual traditions of Anglophone and European book history.— Paul Eggert, Emeritus Professor, UNSW, Sydney, Australia.This is an important addition to the study of literature and literacy in colonial Australia, particularly to understanding how written works were received in the colonial period. It offers a major support to literature scholars by expanding the reading habits of the time with attention to ‘ordinary readers'. This feature breaks new ground in the study of the contemporary reception of colonial literature and provides a much-needed extension to literary study. —Bill Ashcroft, FAHA, Professor Emeritus, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW, Sydney, AustraliaThis very readable as well as scholarly work shows the extent to which literacy practices became indispensable to Australia by the end of the nineteenth century. Throughout its pages, this major historian once again demonstrates the extent to which reading and writing had become essential for the nation’s survival and cultural formation, and compellingly so. —Bill Bell, Cardiff University, UKMartyn Lyons shows us how literacy has been deployed across colonial Australia with a special focus on ‘feral’ readers and ordinary writers. Drawing on decades of scholarship, he warmly embraces the reading and writing of the dispossessed and the unsettled, noting their peculiarly Australian inflections. Instead of separating ‘ego-documents’ (memoirs, diaries and journals) from reading, these practices are considered alongside one another, which is a unique and compelling dimension of this accomplished book. —Brigid Magner, Media & Communication, RMIT University, Australia

• Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Readers and Writers in Colonial Australia; Part 1 Arriving; Part 2 Reading White Australia; Part 3 Convict and First Nation Literacies ; Part 4 Everyday Writings; Bibliography; Index