author
Ernest Favenc
1846–1908
An English-born explorer and journalist who helped turn Australia’s inland journeys into vivid history and adventure stories. His work drew on years in the bush, blending firsthand experience with a storyteller’s eye.
4 Audiobooks
The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work
by Ernest Favenc
The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888
by Ernest Favenc
The secret of the Australian desert
by Ernest Favenc
About the author
Born in Walworth, Surrey, on 21 October 1845, Ernest Favenc was educated in Berlin and Oxfordshire before arriving in Sydney in 1864. He went on to work in pastoral districts in Queensland and became closely connected with life on the Australian frontier.
Favenc built a varied career as an explorer, journalist, novelist, poet, and historian. He took part in expeditions through northern and central Australia and later wrote extensively about exploration, settlement, and the outback. His best-known historical work, The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888, helped preserve accounts of inland journeys for later readers.
Alongside his historical writing, he produced fiction and short stories that brought remote landscapes and colonial life to a wide audience. He died on 14 November 1908, and he is still remembered as a writer who joined practical experience in the field with a lasting fascination for Australia’s interior.