Furphy, Joseph, 1843-1912

Joseph Furphy, the writer, was born at Yering, near Yarra Glen. He is best known for Such is life (1903) published under the pen-name 'Tom Collins'.

Joseph Furphy is widely regarded as the "Father of the Australian novel." He mostly wrote under the pseudonym Tom Collins, and was extremely popular in Australia during the late 19th century. Furphy was born in Yering, Victoria, a rural district outside Melbourne, on 26 Sept. 1843. His father was a tenant farmer from Tanderagee, County Armagh, Ireland, who emigrated to Australia in 1840. Furphy is best known for his book Such is Life which he completed in 1897, submitted to the weekly Bulletin whose editor, A.G. Stephens, suggested he excise large sections; the Bulletiin published the reduced text in 1903. One of the two deleted sections, Chapter V, after suitable revisions by Furphy, was published first as a serial in the Barrier Truth, Broken Hill, in 1905-06, and as the renamed Rigby's Romance it was first published as a book in an abridged form in 1921, and complete in 1946. In 1905 Furphy moved to Western Australia, where two of his sons had established a business. He died at Claremont, a suburb of Perth, on 13 Sept. 1912.

Best known for his novel, Such is life (1903), Furphy wrote articles, novels and poems, sometimes under the pseudonym Tom Collins.

Under the pseudonym of Tom Collins, was the author of Such is Life, and contributor of articles to the Sydney Bulletin.

Joseph Furphy is best known for Such is life (1903).

Joseph Furphy and Kate Baker were witnesses at the 1891 wedding of Harry Baker and Clara Jesse in Williamstown.