George Lewis Becke
Encyclopedia
George Lewis Becke was an Australia
n short-story
writer and novelist.
, son of Frederick Becke, Clerk of Petty Sessions and his wife Caroline Matilda, née Beilby. Both parents were born in England. Becke was the youngest of six children and had a tendency to wander; he has stated that before he was 10 he had twice run away from home. The family moved to Hunters Hill, Sydney
in 1867 and Becke was educated at Fort Street High School
.
In 1869, Becke travelled to San Francisco with his brother Vernon and was away for nineteen months. At 16 years of age, Becke was a stowaway on a ship bound for Samoa
. In Apia he took a job as a book-keeper in the store of Mrs Mcfarlane which he held until some time after December 1872. Becke sailed a ketch
, the E.A. Williams to Mili Atoll
to deliver it to William "Bully" Hayes
, the notorious blackbirder
. Beck arrived at Mili Atoll
on 17 January 1874. Becke remained as a passenger on the Leonora, until the ship was wrecked on 15 March 1874 during a storm while in Lele harbour at Kosrae
. It was seven months until HMS Rosario
rescued Becke and the others. Becke was later arrested for piracy, but was acquitted in Brisbane
. Then he tried his luck at the Palmer River
goldrush, was employed at Ravenswood station and from 1878-79 worked as a bank clerk in Townsville, Queensland
. The story Nell of Mulliner's Camp is set in a mining camp in North Queensland.
From about April 1880 Becke was in the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu
) working with the Liverpool firm of John S. de Wolf and Co. on Nanumanga
until the trading-station was destroyed later that year in a cyclone
. In February 1881 he opened his own store in Nukufetau
, where he married Nelea Tikena. The stories that Louis Becke set in the Ellice Islands are: The Fisher Folk Of Nukufetau described a fishing expedition; The Rangers of the Tia Kau that describes a shark attack at the Tia Kau reef between Nanumea
and Nanumanga
; and Kennedy the Boatsteerer that describes an attempt by a trader on Niutao
to escape with a woman betrothed to a Niutaon chief, which ends in tragedy.
Later in 1881 a shipwreck on Beru Island
in the Gilbert Islands
caused him to lose all he had; Becke then worked in New Britain
and was in Majuro
by November 1882. For the next ten years Becke moved about the Gilbert Islands
, Ellice Islands, Caroline Islands
and Marshall Islands
acquiring a knowledge of the customs and beliefs of the islanders and meeting palagi
traders and beachcomers
that Becke later used his stories.
Becke wrote about Bully Hayes
in Neath Austral Skies, The Strange Adventures of James Shervinton and other stories,. These stories must be read with caution as the line between fact and fiction-writing is unclear. Becke's experiences in the Pacificprovided most of the material for Becke's stories.
Becke returned to New South Wales
late in 1885 and on 10 February 1886 married Elizabeth (Bessie) Maunsell of Port Macquarie.
and J. F. Archibald
began to contribute stories to The Bulletin
, the first of which was Tis in the Blood appearing in the 6 May 1893 edition. A collection of these stories, By Reef and Palm, was published in England
(1894), followed by The Ebbing of the Tide in (1896).
Becke went to London
about the beginning of 1896, helped by Archibald and William Macleod
of the Bulletin who advanced him the sum of £200, and he remained in Europe for around 15 years, during which time a large number of collections of short stories and a few novels and stories for boys were published.
Becke was fairly paid by the magazines for his stories, but his books were always sold outright and never on a royalty basis, he was not a wealthy man. He went to Auckland
, New Zealand
, in 1908 and lived there for about a year.
His writings were in the school of Joseph Conrad
and Robert Louis Stevenson
.
's Australian Literature with six other volumes written in collaboration with Walter J. Jeffrey. He was survived by his wife and a daughter.
Becke had said that any literary success he had achieved was due entirely to the training received from the editor of the Bulletin (J. F. Archibald) "who taught me the secrets of condensation and simplicity of language". Once having learned this Becke had a wealth of experience to draw upon and, though there was inevitably some monotony of theme, he wrote a very large number of stories that can still be read with interest, and show him to have been a writer of considerable ability.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n short-story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer and novelist.
Early life
Becke was born at Port Macquarie, New South WalesNew South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, son of Frederick Becke, Clerk of Petty Sessions and his wife Caroline Matilda, née Beilby. Both parents were born in England. Becke was the youngest of six children and had a tendency to wander; he has stated that before he was 10 he had twice run away from home. The family moved to Hunters Hill, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1867 and Becke was educated at Fort Street High School
Fort Street High School
Fort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
.
In 1869, Becke travelled to San Francisco with his brother Vernon and was away for nineteen months. At 16 years of age, Becke was a stowaway on a ship bound for Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
. In Apia he took a job as a book-keeper in the store of Mrs Mcfarlane which he held until some time after December 1872. Becke sailed a ketch
Ketch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...
, the E.A. Williams to Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll is a coral atoll of 92 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately southeast of Arno Its total land area is making it the second largest of the Marshall Islands after Kwajalein. It encloses a...
to deliver it to William "Bully" Hayes
Bully Hayes
William Henry "Bully" Hayes has been described as a South Sea pirate and "the last of the Buccaneers", who together with Ben Pease, engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s. Hayes operated across the breadth of the Pacific in the 1850s until his murder on 31 March 1877 by his cook Peter...
, the notorious blackbirder
Blackbirding
Blackbirding is a term that refers to recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work as labourers. From the 1860s blackbirding ships were engaged in seeking workers to mine the guano deposits on the Chincha Islands in Peru...
. Beck arrived at Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll is a coral atoll of 92 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately southeast of Arno Its total land area is making it the second largest of the Marshall Islands after Kwajalein. It encloses a...
on 17 January 1874. Becke remained as a passenger on the Leonora, until the ship was wrecked on 15 March 1874 during a storm while in Lele harbour at Kosrae
Kosrae
Kosrae , formerly known as Kusaie, is an island in Micronesia. The State of Kosrae is one of four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, and includes, besides the island of Kosrae, about a dozen satellite islands and islets, the most significant of which is Lelu Island.-Geography:With a...
. It was seven months until HMS Rosario
HMS Rosario (1860)
HMS Rosario was an 11-gun Rosario-class screw sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1860 at Deptford Dockyard. She served two commissions, including eight years on the Australia Station during which she fought to reduce illegal kidnappings of South Sea Islanders for the Queensland labour market. She...
rescued Becke and the others. Becke was later arrested for piracy, but was acquitted in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. Then he tried his luck at the Palmer River
Palmer River
The Palmer River is a river southwest of Cooktown in northeastern Australia. It was the site of a gold rush in the late 19th century which started in 1872. The Palmer River flows west across Cape York to the Gulf of Carpentaria, via the Mitchell River...
goldrush, was employed at Ravenswood station and from 1878-79 worked as a bank clerk in Townsville, Queensland
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
. The story Nell of Mulliner's Camp is set in a mining camp in North Queensland.
From about April 1880 Becke was in the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
) working with the Liverpool firm of John S. de Wolf and Co. on Nanumanga
Nanumanga
Nanumanga or Nanumaga is a reef island and a district of the Oceanian island nation of Tuvalu. It has a surface area of about 3 km².-History:...
until the trading-station was destroyed later that year in a cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
. In February 1881 he opened his own store in Nukufetau
Nukufetau
Nukufetau is an atoll that is part of the nation of Tuvalu. The atoll was claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act some time in the 19th century and was ceded in a treaty of friendship concluded in 1979 and coming into force in 1983...
, where he married Nelea Tikena. The stories that Louis Becke set in the Ellice Islands are: The Fisher Folk Of Nukufetau described a fishing expedition; The Rangers of the Tia Kau that describes a shark attack at the Tia Kau reef between Nanumea
Nanumea
Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about four hundred miles of Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line.-Geography:...
and Nanumanga
Nanumanga
Nanumanga or Nanumaga is a reef island and a district of the Oceanian island nation of Tuvalu. It has a surface area of about 3 km².-History:...
; and Kennedy the Boatsteerer that describes an attempt by a trader on Niutao
Niutao
Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts of Tuvalu, and one of the three who consist of only one island, not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niutao has a population of 663 .-Geography:There are two lakes , which are brackish to...
to escape with a woman betrothed to a Niutaon chief, which ends in tragedy.
Later in 1881 a shipwreck on Beru Island
Beru Island
Beru Island is an island located in the Kingsmill Group of the South Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean and is part of the Republic of Kiribati. Beru was previously known as Eliza, Francis Island, Maria, Peroat, Peru Island or Sunday.- Geography :...
in the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
caused him to lose all he had; Becke then worked in New Britain
New Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
and was in Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
by November 1882. For the next ten years Becke moved about the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
, Ellice Islands, Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
and Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
acquiring a knowledge of the customs and beliefs of the islanders and meeting palagi
Palagi
Palagi or papaalagi is a term in Samoan culture of uncertain meaning, but sometimes used to describe foreigners or anything that does not 'belong' to Samoan culture...
traders and beachcomers
Beachcombing
Beachcombing and beachcomber are words with multiple, but related, meanings that have evolved over time.A beachcomber is someone who "combs" the beach, and the intertidal zone in general, looking for things of value, interest or utility....
that Becke later used his stories.
Becke wrote about Bully Hayes
Bully Hayes
William Henry "Bully" Hayes has been described as a South Sea pirate and "the last of the Buccaneers", who together with Ben Pease, engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s. Hayes operated across the breadth of the Pacific in the 1850s until his murder on 31 March 1877 by his cook Peter...
in Neath Austral Skies, The Strange Adventures of James Shervinton and other stories,. These stories must be read with caution as the line between fact and fiction-writing is unclear. Becke's experiences in the Pacificprovided most of the material for Becke's stories.
Becke returned to New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
late in 1885 and on 10 February 1886 married Elizabeth (Bessie) Maunsell of Port Macquarie.
Literary career
In January 1892 Becke returned to Sydney and persuaded by Ernest FavencErnest Favenc
Ernest Favenc was an explorer of Australia, a journalist and historian.-Personal life:Favenc was born in Walworth, Surrey, England. Of Huguenot descent, he was the son of Abraham George Favenc, merchant, and his wife Emma, née Jones...
and J. F. Archibald
J. F. Archibald
Jules François Archibald, known as J. F. Archibald, , Australian journalist and publisher, was co-owner and editor of The Bulletin during the days of its greatest influence in Australian politics and literary life...
began to contribute stories to The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
, the first of which was Tis in the Blood appearing in the 6 May 1893 edition. A collection of these stories, By Reef and Palm, was published in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(1894), followed by The Ebbing of the Tide in (1896).
Becke went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
about the beginning of 1896, helped by Archibald and William Macleod
William Macleod
William Macleod , was an Australian artist and a partner in The Bulletin.-Early life:Macleod was born in London. His father was of a Scottish Highlands family and his mother Cornish/German...
of the Bulletin who advanced him the sum of £200, and he remained in Europe for around 15 years, during which time a large number of collections of short stories and a few novels and stories for boys were published.
Becke was fairly paid by the magazines for his stories, but his books were always sold outright and never on a royalty basis, he was not a wealthy man. He went to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, in 1908 and lived there for about a year.
His writings were in the school of Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
and Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
.
Late life and legacy
Becke was in Sydney again in the middle of 1909 and died of cancer there on 18 February 1913, working up until his death. About 30 of Becke's books are listed in E. Morris MillerE. Morris Miller
Edmund Morris Miller, CBE was an Australian author.Born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Miller moved with his family to Melbourne in 1883. He was educated at University High School and Wesley College. In 1900 he began working at the State Library of Victoria. He enrolled at the University of Melbourne...
's Australian Literature with six other volumes written in collaboration with Walter J. Jeffrey. He was survived by his wife and a daughter.
Becke had said that any literary success he had achieved was due entirely to the training received from the editor of the Bulletin (J. F. Archibald) "who taught me the secrets of condensation and simplicity of language". Once having learned this Becke had a wealth of experience to draw upon and, though there was inevitably some monotony of theme, he wrote a very large number of stories that can still be read with interest, and show him to have been a writer of considerable ability.
Works
Besides those mentioned above, his works include:- Pacific Tales (1897)
- Rodman the Boat-steerer (1897)
- Edward Barry (1897)
- Tess, the Trader's Wife (1897)
- Sketches from Normandy (1897)
- Wild Life in Southern Seas (1897)
- The Mutineer (1898)
- Ridan the Devil (1899)
- The South Sea Pearler (1900)
- Tom Wallis (1900)
- The Tapir of Banderah and Other Stories (1901)
- By Rock and Pool (1901)
- Helen Adair (1901)
- York the Adventurer (1901)
- The Jalasco Brig (1901)
- Clunkie's Flat (1901)
- His Native Wife (1901)
- Under Tropic Skies (1901)
- The Adventures of a Supercargo (1901)
- The Gerards (1901)
- Notes from My South-Sea Log (1901)
- Breachley: Black Sheep (1902)
with Walter J. Jeffrey
- The Mutineer (1896)
- A First Fleet Family (1896)
- Admiral Philip (1899)
- The Founder of Australia
- The Mystery of the Laughlin Isles
- The Naval Pioneers of Australia
Further reading
- Sally O'Neill, 'Becke, George Lewis (Louis) (1855 - 1913)', Australian Dictionary of BiographyAustralian Dictionary of BiographyThe Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 238–239.
External links
- Dirk HR SpennemannDirk HR SpennemannDr. Dirk HR Spennemann is Associate Professor in Cultural Heritage Management at the , in Albury, Australia. His main research interest rests in the area of futures studies focussing on heritage futures by examining issues such as the conceptual understanding of emergent heritage, the recognition...
(2000). Louis Becke (1859-2000). A biography. - The Alfred Restieaux Manuscript Part II.
- Works by Louis Becke provided by Project Gutenberg of Australia.
- Bibliographic details of Becke's works.