Henry Saxelby Melville Wintle (1799 – 22 December 1873),[1][2] commonly referred to as Henry Melville, was an Australian journalist, author, occultist, and Freemason best remembered for writing the play The Bushrangers,[2][3] his historical work The History of Van Diemen's Land From the Year 1824 to 1835,[2] and his occult philosophical work Veritas: Revelation of Mysteries, Biblical, Historical, and Social by Means of the Median and Persian Laws[2][1].
[1] His arrival in Hobart occurred during a time of severe conflict between the British settlers and the Tasmanian Aboriginals known as the Black War.
[2] In February 1832, Melville married Eliza Romney at New Norfolk, the daughter of an American immigrant by the name of Joseph Fisher.
[2] By 1847 his agricultural pursuits had become a financial embarrassment and in 1849 he left Tasmania, visiting other cities and fulfilling journalistic assignments before arriving in London where he published and commentary on the politics of the Australian colonies entitled, The Present State of Australia, with Particular Hints to Emigrants in 1851.
[5][2] The next year his occult work on the lost mysteries of Freemasonry, Veritas, was published posthumously by Frederick Tennyson.