Days of my Youth is the personal memoirs of the artist and Royal Academian Charles Napier Hemy (1841–1917). Recorded later in his life, on board his yacht, he recounts his travels as a ten-year-old boy to and from Australia, and his adventures in the Victorian goldfields in 1851.

Days of my Youth is a glimpse of the private world of Hemy’s boyhood, his early love of the sea, his encounter with mutiny and other adventures and the rigours of travel under sail. Vivid descriptions of Melbourne during the gold rush and the social and living conditions of the early goldfields at Ballarat and Bendigo are recounted in this engaging first-hand chronicle. Hemy’s boyhood antics seem to come straight from the pages of the tales created by his contemporary, Mark Twain, but remarkably, they are not the sagas of fictional characters, but memories of his life at the ages of ten and eleven.

These experiences left an indelible impression on Hemy, who went on to become one of England’s pre-eminent marine artists and a celebrated member of the Royal Academy.