Louis de Rougemont's real name is Henri-Louis Gren (1847–1921). Originally from Switzerland, he came to Australia in 1870, where he tried many professions: he worked as a dishwasher, a waiter, a realtor, a broker, but mainly as a photographer. Then he became the owner of a small ship, which was later shipwrecked. Gren, who disappeared for a long time, then claimed that he was the only survivor of the attack of the aborigines, about which he later left scandalous notes. Presented here is the novel "The New Robinson", which in 1898 the British "World Magazine" published as a series of essays about the imaginary adventures of a hero named Louis de Rougemont, passing them off as real events. In them, he talked about his search for pearls and gold in New Guinea and claimed that he spent 30 years on a desert island with local aborigines who worshiped him as a god... The stories were written vividly and talentedly, but were essentially a collection of colonial folklore. Many readers expressed distrust of them, and a discussion ensued in society and in the press, which lasted for several years. Rougemont was openly called a deceiver. The publishers only fueled the scandal, which contributed to the growth of the magazine’s popularity.