For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) is a novel by Marcus Clarke.
Inspired by a journey taken by the author to the penal colony of Port
Arthur, Tasmania, the novel was originally serialized in The Australian
Journal between 1870 and 1872. For its depictions of the brutality and
inhumanity of Australia's penal colonies, the novel has been recognized
as a powerful realist novel and one of the first works of Tasmanian
Gothic literature. In the year 1827, a young British aristocrat is
implicated in the murder and robbery of Lord Bellasis, his birth father.
Sent to Van Diemen's Land, he changes his name to Rufus Dawes and
steadies himself for life in some of the world's most notorious penal
colonies. On board the Malabar, which is also transporting the new
commander of the settlement at Macquarie Harbour, a group of mutineers
hatches a plan to take control of the ship. Although Dawes warns the
Captain, the conspirators place responsibility for the attempted mutiny
on his innocent shoulders, and his sentence is extended for the rest of
his life. At Macquarie Harbor and later Port Arthur, Dawes is
brutalized, isolated, and tortured, leaving him no choice but to plan
his unlikely escape. With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Marcus Clarke's For
the Term of His Natural Life is a classic of Australian literature
reimagined for modern readers.