Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land

Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land
Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land
	State Library of Tasmania
Written by	John H. Amherst
Based on	Statistical, historical, and political description of the colony of New South Wales by W C Wentworth
Date premiered	April 1821
Place premiered	Royal Coburg Theatre, London
Original language	English
Subject	bushranger Michael Howe
Setting	Tasmania

Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land is an 1821 British play by John H. Amherst about the bushranger Michael Howe. It was the first play ever written about Tasmania.^[2]

It premiered at London's Royal Coburg Theatre in April 1821.^[3]^[4]

The play was revived in October 1821 as a benefit for the actor Henry Sloman (1793-1873). No surviving manuscript of the play is known to exist.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The play was performed in Hobart in 1845. An advertisement for this said the play ran for more than 300 performances at "The Surrey Theatre"^[8] but this may be a reference to another play about Howe, Van Dieman's Land.

Background

Michael Howe was executed in 1818. That year saw publication of the book Michael Howe : the last and worst of the bushrangers of Van Diemen's Land. However the play was based on another book, Statistical, historical, and political description of the colony of New South Wales, and its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land by William Wentworth.^[5]

References

^ "Hobart Town". Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser. Vol. VI, no. 276. Tasmania, Australia. 18 August 1821. p. 2. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Book Collectors' Society of Australia. (1966), "MICHAEL HOWE LITERATURE", Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries, 7 (1 (March 1982)), [Sydney,N.S.W]: the Society, ISSN 0157-3276, nla.obj-3002866342, retrieved 17 November 2023 – via Trove
^ Old Vic Theatre (London, England); Amherst, J. H., 1776-1851, (playwright.) (1821), For the benefit of Mr. Sloman ... Michael Howe the Terror! of Van Dieman's Land, retrieved 17 November 2023{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ "Dramatic highlights". Daily Mercury. Vol. 88, no. 56. Queensland, Australia. 6 March 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^ ^a ^b Morrison, Ian (1 November 2018). "Two forgotten bushranger plays". State Library and Tasmanian Archives Blog.
^ K. R. Von Stieglitz, 'Howe, Michael (1787–1818)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/howe-michael-2206/text2857, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 17 November 2023.
^ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. pp. 3–5.
^ "Advertising". The Hobart Town Advertiser. No. 576. Tasmania, Australia. 22 August 1845. p. 1. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.