Henry Saxelby Melville Wintle is an author and journalist who emigrated to Hobart Town in the late 1820s and bought The Colonial Times from its founder Andrew Bent. He printed and published the first Australian novel, Quintus Servinton: A Tale Founded upon Incidents of Real Occurrence by the convict author Henry Savery. In 1833, Melville established the Hobart Town Magazine which lasted for eighteen issues. In 1834, he wrote, published, and staged The Bushrangers; or Norwood Vale—the first play with an Australian theme to be produced in Australia.
Melville was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court, and he used his time in prison to write A few words on prison discipline and complete a critical account of the Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur and his administration. These were printed by Melville and smuggled to London in a ship where they were published as History of the Island of Van Dieman’s Land from the Year 1824 to 1835. Melville is described as ‘an outstanding Australian printer, publisher and author during the era before the establishment of responsible government’.
