Fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories have speculated over the years that Holmes and Watson travelled in Australia at some point in their adventures. Of the original sixty stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, there are eight connections to Australia. The most intriguing is Watson’s comment in The Sign of Four when describing the grounds of Pondicherry Lodge: “It looks as though all the moles in England had been let loose in it. I have seen something of the sort on the side of a hill near Ballarat, where the prospectors had been at work." The 1851 gold rush had drawn many prospectors to the city of Ballarat in Victoria.
While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle traveled to Australia later in his life, his visit had nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. In 1920 and 1921, Doyle was touring Australia to give a series of lectures on spiritualism.
Now the question has been answered. Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook chronicles Holmes’ and Watson’s adventures in Australia over several months in 1890. The book, edited by Christopher Sequeira, contains sixteen short stories by Australian writers. Those writers include Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher mystery series, and Kaaron Warren, a horror and science fiction writer who authored Walking the Tree and award-winning The Grief Hole.
Holmes and Watson have adventures in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Hobart, as well as in some more remote locations. The stories take place across all eight states and territories of modern Australia.
Although Canberra didn’t yet exist in 1890, Holmes and Watson do solve a mystery in the proximity of what will become Australia’s capital city. In the “Adventure of the Lazarus Child” by Dr. L.J.M. Owen, they travel to Queanbeyan Station, identified as a “remote mill-and-mine town in New South Wales as far distant from Sydney as York is from London.”
While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle traveled to Australia later in his life, his visit had nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. In 1920 and 1921, Doyle was touring Australia to give a series of lectures on spiritualism.
Now the question has been answered. Sherlock Holmes: The Australian Casebook chronicles Holmes’ and Watson’s adventures in Australia over several months in 1890. The book, edited by Christopher Sequeira, contains sixteen short stories by Australian writers. Those writers include Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher mystery series, and Kaaron Warren, a horror and science fiction writer who authored Walking the Tree and award-winning The Grief Hole.
Holmes and Watson have adventures in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Hobart, as well as in some more remote locations. The stories take place across all eight states and territories of modern Australia.
Although Canberra didn’t yet exist in 1890, Holmes and Watson do solve a mystery in the proximity of what will become Australia’s capital city. In the “Adventure of the Lazarus Child” by Dr. L.J.M. Owen, they travel to Queanbeyan Station, identified as a “remote mill-and-mine town in New South Wales as far distant from Sydney as York is from London.”
Illustration for “The Adventure of the Lazarus Child”
The stories challenge Holmes and Watson with a punishing landscape and unfamiliar culture as the two grapple with everything from antipodean bushrangers to bunyips. The book will delight Sherlock Holmes fans in every hemisphere.
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