 During the 1880s and 1890s Astley did some free-lance work for "The Bulletin" in which four series of his stories of the convict days were published.The first collection of these, "Tales of the Convict System", appeared in 1892; this was followed by "Tales of the Early Days" (1894), "Tales of the Old Regime" (1897), "Tales of the Isle of Death" (1898), and "Half-Crown Bob and Tales of the Riverine" (1898).Astley married Louisa Frances Cope of Launceston, Tasmania on 22 September 1884.