Successful Exploration | Page 7

to see how the
birds ride them.
27th.--Saw an eclipse of the moon last night, which lasted three hours;
little more than three quarters were eclipsed--Some of the passengers
discontented with the provisions--wonder that some of them ever
thought of leaving home.
1853. January 1st.--Saw land this morning--Reached Cape Otway in
the afternoon; much the appearance of Berry Head, with a slight haze
on it--Coast to the west very like that about Dartmouth--Cliffs, high;
could fancy I saw Rock Vale. [Footnote: The residence of a gentleman,
near Dartmouth, with whom he had been on a visit a short time before
his departure.]
3rd.--Dropped anchor--Captain and Doctor going ashore will post my
journal and our letters.
. . .
His own was short:--
Port Phillip, January 3rd, 1853.
MY DEAR FATHER,
We have this morning dropped anchor, just off Williamstown. There
are a fine set of ships here: amongst them are the Great Britain,
Cleopatra, Ballaarat, Aberfoil, and an immense number of others, great
and small. The Great Britain leaves early to-morrow, so I cannot finish
my letter. We have been ninety-five days on our passage. The
Cleopatra has only arrived two days. There are a great many vessels
coming in. The day before yesterday we overtook and passed the Jane,
and Truth, of London, which left Plymouth a fortnight before we sailed

from Dartmouth. I hear already that things are very dear in Melbourne.
Our pilot says he gives 200 pounds a year for a small four-roomed
cottage, two miles from the town.
. . .
To show how well prepared the young adventurer was for life in
Australia,--notwithstanding letters of introduction and means of
obtaining money if required--after remaining only a few days in
Melbourne, and disbursing but a small modicum of the limited supply
of cash he had taken with him, anxious to see the interior of the Island
Continent, he obtained employment for himself and brother, a lad only
fifteen years of age, at a large sheep station two hundred miles up the
country. The following letter, dated February 12th, 1853, describes
their proceedings to that date:--
MY DEAR FATHER,
We are at Deniliquin. And where in the world is that? you will say.
Well; it is about two hundred miles north from Melbourne, on the
Edward River, in the New South Wales district, and nearly five
hundred miles from Sydney. The station belongs to the Royal Bank
Company. We have engaged as shepherds at 30 pounds per annum each,
and rations. We are very comfortable, in a hut by ourselves, about four
miles from the station. We have between thirteen and fourteen hundred
rams, by far the smallest and easiest flock, under our charge. We take
the hut-keeping and shepherding in turns. The hut is a very nice one,
built of split wood, and roofed with bark. It is close beside a pleasant
creek or river, where there are plenty of fish and ducks. I assure you we
make ourselves quite snug here. One of us rises almost as soon as it is
light, gets some breakfast, and starts off with the sheep; lets them feed
about until ten o'clock, then brings them slowly home, where they lie
down until four; after that, they go out again until sunset. The other
stays within to clean up the hut and prepare the meals. We can kill a
sheep when we like. [Footnote: Not the rams. There were a few others
kept for the purpose. I stayed a few days with them, when I went out
myself, at the end of the year.] The worst part serves for the dogs, of
which we have three--a sheep dog, and two kangaroo dogs. [Footnote:
They had a horse when I visited them, but not, I conclude, at the time
when this letter was written.] The latter are good, and keep off the
native curs at night. The sheep dog was the only one the former owner

had last year, to watch a flock of five thousand sheep.
But you will want to hear something of Melbourne and how we came
here. The first discovery we made after we got into port was, that we
had to take ourselves and things ashore at our own expense. There was
a good deal of fuss made about it to no purpose. It was four shillings
each by steamer to Melbourne, and thirty shillings per ton for goods. It
cost us about 2 pounds altogether. At Melbourne we found everything
very dear; no lodgings to be had, every place full. At length we were
offered lodgings at sixty shillings a week, to be paid in advance, and
twenty-five persons sleeping in the same room; but we preferred the
Immigrant's Home, a government affair, just fitted up for the
accommodation of new-comers, where you pay one shilling