For the Term of His Natural Life

"...he was so horribly unhuman, that one shuddered to think that tender women and fair children must, of necessity, confess to fellowship of kind with such a monster." ― Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) by Marcus Clarke tells the story of Richard Devine, a young aristocrat, disowned by his father and wrongfully convicted of a crime, which commands him to change his name to Rufus Dawes. To receive the punishment of the crime, he arrives at Van Diemen's Land, a penal colony of Australia. As a criminal, he is treated inhumanly and cruelly in the colony, and he has to endure endless suffering. However, Dawes remains adamant to clear his name despite all the struggles.