Joseph Furphy

Joseph Furphy (Irish: Seosamh Ó Foirbhithe; 26 September 1843 – 13 September 1912) was an Australian author and poet. He mostly wrote under the pseudonym Tom Collins and is best known for his novel Such Is Life (1903), regarded as an Australian classic.

Personal life

Furphy was born at Yering Station in Yering, Victoria. His father, Samuel Furphy, was originally a tenant farmer from Tandragee, County Armagh, Ireland, who emigrated to Australia in c. 1840-1841. In about 1850 the family moved to Kangaroo Ground, Victoria.

In 1904, Furphy and his wife moved to Western Australia to join his sons. He built a house at Swanbourne. Furphy died in Claremont on 13 September 1912 and is buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.

Literary career

While living at Shepparton, he was encouraged in his writing by Kate Baker, a schoolteacher who boarded with his mother. He sent a story 'The Mythical Sundowner' to The Bulletin under the name 'Warrigal Jack' and it was accepted for publication. Later works were published under the pseudonym 'Tom Collins' which may have come from the slang term meaning "a fellow about town whom many sought to kill for touching them on 'sore points'".

His most famous work is Such Is Life, a fictional account of the life of rural dwellers, including bullock drivers, squatters and itinerant travellers, in southern New South Wales and Victoria, during the 1880s. In 1897 the manuscript was sent to The Bulletin where A. G. Stephens recognised its worth. He suggested cuts including the replacement of two entire chapters. Stephens persuaded the proprietors of The Bulletin to publish the revised Such Is Life because it was a great Australian work although not commercially viable. It was published in 1903 under his pseudonym 'Tom Collins' and only sold about a third of the print run. Through the efforts of Kate Baker who bought the residual copies from The Bulletin, later editions were brought out after Furphy's death.