Thomas McCombie 1819-1869 An Early Melbourne Writer
Thomas McCombie was a Scotsman who came to Australia in the very early days of the Colonies and made a substantial contribution to Australian Literature. He was born in Tillyfour in Aberdeenshire in Scotland in 1819 and so he was only 22 years old when he arrived in Australia. He actually arrived in the new settlement of Port Phillip in early 1841 and like many young men on arrival he went out into the country to try his hand as a grazier. At this time Melbourne and Port Phillip was part of new South Wales and his earliest experiences were in country New South Wales. This is probably the reason why his novel Arabin is set in country New South Wales although it was probably set in what later became the State of Victoria. The life of a Grazier dial not suit the young man from Scotland and he returned to Melbourne to make his home in that brash infant town.
