The Long Farewell

By Don Charlwood

Winner of NSW Premier’s Literary Award

During the nineteenth century more than a million people, many of whom had never ventured beyond their homes in Britain, sailed to the new colonies of Australia. On their months-long voyage the emigrants lived in a state of limbo – isolated, belonging neither to the old world nor to the new, and living in fear of icebergs, fever and storms.

Drawing upon a wealth of diaries and contemporary records, Don Charlwood evokes their experiences: the physical dangers, stress, boredom and personalities of travellers on their way to a new life.

Don Charlwood was borin in 1915 in Melbourne and grew up in Frankston. After serving as an RAAF pilot in the Second World War, he returned to Australia in 1945 to marry Nell East. His first book was published in 1956.