The collection presented here is a small selection of material drawn from 19th-century Australian sources. It includes a range of perspectives: from the musings of a naive English teacher to the observations of an experienced China consul; from an eyewitness account of the first 150 Chinese gold seekers passing through Bathurst in 1855 to the impressions of a spectator at a Chinese opera. It even features writings from notable authors such as the creators of Mary Poppins and The Man from Snowy River. No such compilation would be complete without contributions from two perennial commentators: the journalist and the travel writer.
