Thomas Alexander Browne, an Australian author, wrote many of his novels under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. Robbery Under Arms, a novel about bushranging from 1882, is his best known work. Browne was born in London, the eldest child of Captain Sylvester John Brown, a former shipmaster for the East India Company, and his wife Elizabeth Angell, nee Alexander. His mother was his "earliest admirer and most indulgent critic, to whom is chiefly due whatever meed of praise my readers may hereafter vouchsafe" (Dedication Old Melbourne Memories). Thomas added the letter 'e' to his surname in the 1860s. After his father's barque Proteus delivered a cargo of convicts in Hobart, the family relocated to Sydney in 1831. Browne spent approximately twenty-five years as a squatter and almost the same amount of time as a government official, but his third profession as an author lasted forty years. While recovering from a riding accident in 1865, he published two articles for the Cornhill Magazine about pastoral life in Australia, and he started contributing articles and serial stories to Australian weeklies. One of these, Ups and Downs: A Story of Australian Life, was published as a book in London in 1878. It was well reviewed, but received little attention. In 1890, it was reissued under the title The Squatters Dream.
