David Burn (c.1799 – 14 June 1875) was a
Tasmania
)
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, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
n pioneer and
dramatist
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
, author of the first
Australian drama to be performed on stage, ''The Bushrangers''.
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Early life
Burn was born in Scotland, the son of David Burn and his wife, Jacobina, ''née'' Hunter (1763–1851). David Burn senior died c.1820 and Jacobina emigrated to
Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...
(now
Tasmania
)
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, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
) and became the first woman there to have land granted to her. David junior had a brief career in the navy joined his mother in Van Diemen's Land in 1826. He failed to qualify for a land grant returned to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
in 1829, divorcing his wife there.
Career
On 8 and 10 September 1829 Burn's play, ''The Bushrangers'', was acted at the Caledonian Theatre, Edinburgh, with success. Early in January 1830 his farce, ''Manias and Maniacs'' (afterwards renamed ''Our First Lieutenant'') was played at the same theatre for several successive nights. In 1830 Burn returned to Van Diemen's Land and revisited England with his mother in 1836. He remained until 1840; the dedication of his pamphlet ''Vindication of Van Diemen's Land'' is dated 18 February 1840, and in 1841 he brought out another pamphlet, ''The Chivalry of the Mercantile Marine'', published at Plymouth. He contributed a serial in the
Colonial Magazine
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
of 1840-1841, ''Van Diemen's Land'', which has been reprinted in book form in 1973 as ''A Picture of Van Diemen's Land''. Burn published a pamphlet ''Vindication of Van Diemen's Land in A Cursory Glance at Her Colonists as They Are, Not as They Have Been Represented To Be'' (London, 1840).
Burn returned to Van Diemen's Land and published his ''Plays and Fugitive Pieces in Verse'' in 1841; the dedication to
Lady Franklin is dated November 1842. This book, in two well-printed volumes bound in one, was the first volume of plays published in Australia. In 1842 he visited
Port Arthur penal colony and its cemetery,
Isle of the Dead.
Around this time he probably wrote his ''An Excursion to Port Arthur in 1842'', of which an edition was published at the ''Examiner'' office, Launceston, some 60 years later. Burn accompanied
Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin on their expedition to the west coast of Tasmania in 1842 which was described in his ''Narrative of the Overland Journey … From Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour, 1842'' (published in Sydney 1955 with notes by G. Mackaness).
Burn was editing the ''South Britain or Tasmanian Literary Journal'' in 1843, and afterwards went to
Sydney and
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, where he lived for many years. He was connected with the New Zealand press, at first on the ''New Zealander'' and later as a partner in the
New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
.
Death and legacy
Burn died in prosperous circumstances at
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
on 14 June 1875, he had two children and was married twice. He was a prodigious writer and many of his manuscripts are preserved at the
Mitchell library
The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland.
History
The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...
,
Sydney, including his reminiscences and diaries. He was also author of ''Van Diemen's Land, Moral, Physical and Political, and Strictures on the Navy''.
References
*D. H. Borchardt,
Burn, David (1799 - 1875), ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 1,
MUP, 1966, pp 181–182.
*
*''A Picture of Van Diemen's Land'', David Burn, 1973, Cat & Fiddle Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, David
1799 births
1875 deaths
Australian male dramatists and playwrights
Australian people of Scottish descent
19th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights