Thomas Alexander Browne (1826-1915), who wrote under the pen name of Rolf Boldrewood, was born in England but moved to Australia with his family at the age of five. He was known for his adventure novels set in the Australian bush.

Browne's father, Sylvester Brown (the family did not use the final "e" until about 1864) led a life of adventure worthy of one of the heroes in Browne's novels. After running away to sea from his home in Galway, Ireland, at the age of ten, he eventually rose to be a successful officer in the East India Company and later became the captain of his own ships. He met his wife when she was a passenger on one of his ships; they married in Mauritius and then settled briefly in London, where Browne was born on August 6, 1826. Five years later, Captain Browne took a shipload of convicts to...