Trentham Trumpet ‘Joseph Furphy in Trentham District’
The TDHS has regularly been contributing articles to the The Trentham Trumpet in recent years. This story, written by Sue Worthington was published in the Trumpet in August 2021.
If you would like to look at other previously published Trumpet Newsletters, they are available via their archive https://www.thetrenthamtrumpet.com.au/archives
Many of the stories recorded in The Trumpet, have been gathered together and published in the Trentham Tales. This, along with our other publications are available from our Online Store.
Joseph Furphy in Trentham District
Written by Sue Worthington
With Words in Winter underway there is no better way to celebrate bush literature than reflect on that Australian classic 'Such is Life', and its author Tom Collins, pen name for Joseph Furphy. Furphy himself described the work as "temper, democratic; bias, offensively Australian
Furphy's formative years were spent in Kyneton, Tylden, Garlick's Lead, and Daylesford at a time the democratic stirrings of the goldfields were being amplified through the hardships of Australian rural working life. It seems it was within our communities that Furphy first became "attuned to the Australian spirit".
Furphy's early writing was recognised in 1867 when the 24 year old won 3 pounds in the Kyneton Library Society's literary competition - reward for what the Bulletin described as "a vigorous set of verses".
During his 20 years in the district, Furphy worked as an engine driver in Tylden and Garlick's Lead mine, before buying a threshing outfit in 1864. With this he traversed the district for employment, beginning to use rare leisure time for 'self expression' through writing.
He met his French wife, Leonie Selina Germain in Glen Lyon and with a young family to support, briefly became a 'selector'. However, by 1877 he was unable to meet his debts, sold his land and bought a team of bullocks and a cartage business. He embarked on years of bullock driving between Northern Victoria and the NSW Riverina - years from which he drew his Tom Collins experiences.
The drought of 1883 ended his business and he joined his brother John in his iron foundry at Shepparton from where he completed "Such is Life" in 1897.
Finally published in 1903, the work is described by its publisher as "the tough-talking, law-dodging world of the 1880s, where swagmen and bullockies sleep out under the stars with 'grandeur, peace and purity above; squalor, worry and profanity below".
The tradition of bush philosophers and writers such as Furphy continue to entertain and enrich our understanding of our District's lived history.
