Henry
Mundy left the English village of Bow Brickhill 1844 when he was only 12
years old and travelled to Australia. At 79 he wrote his memoirs.
These have now published for the first time and have given
us a wonderful glimpse into the life of an English agricultural
labourer and of an Australian pioneer..
Henry had an
incredibly accurate memory. He
tells us what it was like to be a labourer working on local farms.
He talks of the social structure, about local people and
places.
After barely leaving
the close confines of their village the Mundy family went with to
Australia from whence they would never return. Henry worked on sheep
stations and the gold fields of Victoria and he witnessed the
infamous Eureka Stockade rebellion that paved the way for nation
status. Running
illegal alcohol to the goldfields with the collusion of the police
and surviving a raging bushfire were just two of Henry's
flirtations with danger.
The clarity of his recollections, his descriptive
powers and the emotion he evokes are remarkable. Apart from brief attendances up to the age of 9 years at
schools in England, Henry had no formal education. It was in
the remote Australian outback, inspired by reclusive pioneer, Jimmy
Quaid, that he
began to understand the importance of learning. Much of his meagre
earnings were spent acquiring books, the contents of which he devoured
with relish. He taught himself the classics, history, geography, Latin
and politics.
Australian author LES. HUGHES has painstakingly followed in Henry’s footsteps, from those humble
beginnings in Bow Brickhill, to the deserted streets of the old gold
towns. He has gathered
photographic evidence along the way that serves to corroborate every
detail recounted in Henry’s hand-written manuscript.
Aided by newspaper clippings and stories handed down
by the Mundy generations Les. has been able to fill in the missing
years, for Henry had only just attained the age of 27 in his memoirs
when he tragically died, mid-sentence. Now we can appreciate all he
lived through and put it into context in our modern world.
Read more about Les. Hughes here.
The book is published by small independent publisher Next
Century Books which, in another coincidence, is just a
few miles from Henry's birthplace and already has strong
connections with Australia.
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