For The Term Of His Natural Life (1927)

The Australian story 'For the Term of His Natural Life', written by Marcus Clarke, was published as a novel in 1874. The novel is based, in part, on the life of a convict called Rufus Dawes from the penal settlement of Port Arthur, Tasmania. The harsh treatment and poor living conditions of the Tasmanian convicts is clearly shown. Most of the incidents portrayed, and many of the specific characters, are quite easily identifiable from the historical colonial literature of the time.

The novel 'For the Term of His Natural Life' is available online ... here

A full length motion picture adaptation of the book, 'For the Term of His Natural Life', was made by the American director Norman Dawn in Hollywood (1927). The film contained the silent film stars Eva Novak and George Fisher. Unfortunately, the film had limited success because the recent development of film sound (talkies) led to a fall in silent film popularity. The film is available on YouTube in 12 sections shown below.


1/12


2/12


3/12


4/12


5/12


6/12


7/12


8/12


9/12


10/12


11/12


12/12