E. (Edward) Hulme

Edward Hulme was born on February 2, 1818. Reliable Australian art reference sources describe him as a painter, lithographer, art teacher, gold-miner, and farmer who came to Melbourne with his family in 1856. After arriving, he was employed on decorative work for the Legislative Chambers in the Victorian Parliament House, and he later exhibited at major shows including the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880.

His best-known book for general readers is A Settler's 35 Years' Experience in Victoria, Australia. In it, he introduces himself as an artist by profession who had studied from childhood and had works accepted by the Royal Academy before emigrating. The book is part memoir and part guide for would-be settlers, drawing on his experiences in England, Melbourne, the diggings, and farming life.

That mix of art, labor, and hard-earned observation gives Hulme's writing its appeal. He writes not as a distant commentator, but as someone who changed countries and occupations, making his account especially vivid for readers interested in colonial Australia and the everyday realities behind it.