For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

Marcus Clarke (1846-1881) was an Australian novelist, journalist, poet, and librarian. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcus Clarke¿s For the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature reimagined for modern readers. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan his unlikely escape. Although Dawes warns the Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of his life. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Sent to Van Diemen¿s Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and steadies himself for life in some of the world¿s most notorious penal colonies. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father. For its depictions of the brutality and inhumanity of Australiäs penal colonies, the novel has been recognized as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian Gothic literature.

Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian Journal between 18. For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke.

For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke