Educated at the Fort Street Model School in Sydney, Becke traveled to San Francisco with his brother in 1870. Attracted by the lure of the sea, he stowed away on a barque in 1875 and went to Samoa and over the next 10 years had a number of adventures in the Pacific. He married in 1886 and worked in Sydney until 1890, when he again went to sea. Becke turned to writing on his return to Sydney when he was unable to find work and, in 1893, published his first story, 'Tis in the Blood, in The Bulletin periodical. His first book, By Reef and Palm, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1894 and was a great success. Unfortunately, Becke had sold the copyright so didn't share in the profit made by the publisher. Although he produced many collections of stories which were very popular, Becke remained in debt for most of his literary career and was eventually forced into bankruptcy. He lived in Ireland in 1901 and spent 1903 to 1906 in France. He returned to Australia in 1908 and in 1910 was elected to the Royal Society of New South Wales. He died of cancer in 1913, destitude and largely forgotten. His works include Pacific Tales (1896), Ridan the Devil and Other Stories (1898), Tom Wallis (1900), Yorke the Adventurer (1901), The Jalasco Brig (1902), Under Tropic Skies (1904), Sketches From Normandy (1906), The Call of the South (1908) and The Adventures of Louis Blake (1909). |
