By Reef and Palm

Louis Becke

George Lewis Becke was at the turn of the nineteenth century, the most prolific, significant, and internationally renowned Australian-born writer of the South Pacific region. Having lived and worked among Pacific Islands and Islanders as a trader, ship's supercargo, and villager for some two decades, learning languages and observing natural and cultural life, Becke was prompted by J. F. Archibald of The Bulletin to write down his experiences, eventually becoming a popular and respected author of short stories, novellas, novels, as well as historic and ethnographic works.