A Black Sheep.

A BLACK SHEEP--Some Episodes From His Life by Ada Cambridge Elizabeth Morrison Australian Scholarly Editions Centre

The difficulty of accessing literary works from 19th Century Australia has meant that the tapestry of artistic output produced for the periodical press has almost disappeared from view. Even those texts that achieved publication in book form are rarely reprinted. It is then a delight to have access to a scholarly edition of a colonial text.

Originally serialised in the Melbourne Age from 7 July 1888 to 5 January 1889 A Black Sheep by Ada Cambridge now appears as the last of the eight volume Colonial Text Series.

The inevitable question: is it just an academic curiosity or does it stand up to the literary test of time? This can be at least partially answered by acknowledging that ,A Black Sheep manages to entertain as well educate. While there are still vestiges of 19th century conventions the prose will strike the readers as remarkably modern. Other features include an obvious Bronte influence (there are number of references to Jane Eyre), and a smaller than usual helping of the astounding coincidences that characterised melodramatic story telling of the time. Further, it deals with some universal themes--the quality of relationships in marriage, the role of the church and the class system.

The central character is the devilish-sounding Richard Delavel a 'black sheep' who finds himself increasingly at odds with his aristocratic family, the squires of Dunstanborough. He does not want to become a cleric as is expected of him. He is either 'not good enough--or not bad enough' and would rather be an 'honest man' than 'a hypocrite' (102). He rails against his status as a feudal lord and makes a rash decision to marry Annie Morrison, one of the tenant farmer's daughters. Cast out and cut off from the family, he determines to go to Australia to find a new life. Ironically Annie is seeking social elevation by marrying him and can see no value in going to Australia where the name of Delavel would mean nothing. She stays in England until he has made his fortune.

Twenty-five years later we find Delavel as a well to do shipping merchant in Sydney. Annie is now in her element having found a group of social climbers that represent England transplanted to the colonies. They have a daughter, Susan, but share no other interests.

In a deliciously ironic scene Delavel plays the part of the family man by reading aloud to his wife and daughter. His choice is Political Economy by J.S. Mill. "'All privileged and powerful classes, as such, have used their power in the interest of their own selfishness.'" As he expects Annie is not attending and is thinking about her flowerbeds, delightfully oblivious to the subversive indoctrination of their daughter Susan.

As freethinking as her father Susan cannot countenance an existence based on social engagements, decorative accomplishments and marriages of convenience. She conforms on occasion but only to appease her mother. Father and daughter use a 'camp' as their means of temporary escape. It is for both of them a kind of arcadia where they leave the restrictions of society behind: 'far from the madding crowd of carriage people; there to fashion a system of life that should satisfy her conscience and her peculiar tastes (308). It represents a return to the essentials of life and a place where they can be themselves. Morrison suggests that the camp itself was inspired by the one set up by Livingstone Hopkins and Julian Ashton at Edwards Beach adjacent to Balmoral where Cambridge attended a lunch party on her visit to Sydney. Cambridge accentuates the vibrancy and beauty of Sydney Harbour in using it as means to attain freedom from the shackles of society.

However, there are complications for both father and daughter. Delavel has an abiding passion for Constance an early colonial acquaintance which Cambridge deliberately imbues with Jane Eyre--Rochester associations ("to the finest fibre of their being' as Jane Eyre says' (306)).

Susan's love interest is Noel Rutledge, a cleric who denounced his occupation in his last sermon and earned society's wrath as a consequence. Cambridge describes his growing disaffection with the church as an "artificial skin fastened on him by the church when he was growing and undeveloped, speedily became too tight' (171).

A Black Sheep is not without flaws. Some will find the denouement disconcerting, not so much for the nature of the outcomes but for matters of pace and structure. Nor do the descriptions of Sydney evolve. As Elizabeth Morrison points out, the action takes place over five years but the descriptions of Sydney do not change.

Elizabeth Morrison's edition includes both an introduction and informative notes. The reader is apprised of the context of period, the background of the author, reviews of the time as well as comparative versions of the text and the breakdown of instalments as it appeared in The Age. It is this depth of research that allows the reader not just to enjoy the story but also to recognise Cambridge's skill as a writer and her 'powerful analysis of a new society, depicting people both adjusting to and helping to shape it' (xix). In doing this one becomes a witness to the complex negotiations taking place in a society trying to come to terms with itself and becomes aware of a range of views of society. Our understanding of the colonial years of Australia becomes more three-dimensional.

Megan Brown PhD Candidate

University of Wollongong