Summary

Diary handwritten by Charles Care, a passenger on board the 'Orient' travelling from London to Melbourne in 1888. It is entitled 'Diary of a Voyage from London to Melbourne in the RMS 'Orient' of the O.S.N. Co's Line, March-April 1888'. The diary is described as an extract of an original diary that had been written during the journey, and appears to be a revised version.

The contents give an account of the voyage and shipboard life from the ship's departure from Tilbury, England on 2 March 1888 until the steamer's arrival in Melbourne on 12 April 1888. Entries include descriptions of shipboard events such as fire drills, church services and concerts, outings at the various ports, and a fancy dress ball. Diary entries are interspersed with paste-down colour and black and white printed illustrations of ships, maps of ports of call including Gibraltar Bay, Gulf of Naples, Port Said, and Suez Bay, Flags of the Australian Colonies and Shipping Companies, and various hymns and psalms taken from the New Church Hymn Book.

The Index to Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria, held by the Public Record Office of Victoria, reveals that Mr. Care was 38 years old and single when he made the journey to Melbourne. The diary entries indicate that Mr. Care was a follower of the doctrines of the New Church, a religious movement developed from the writings of the Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. Unfortunately, the author reveals little about himself, his background, family and plans in the diary.Though it is clear from his final entry that he intended to remain in Melbourne, it is unknown whether that actually occurred. References in the diary to a letter of introduction to a resident in New Zealand, as well as Sydney being listed as his port of destination in the Passenger Lists, leave his ultimate destination ambiguous.

Physical Description

Handwritten 98 page diary, written in a journal sold at the Book Arcade, Melbourne with its original covering of two pages from 'Cole's Funny Picture Book' later covered with brown paper. Includes colour and black and white printed illustrations of ships, maps of ports of call including Gibraltar Bay, Gulf of Naples, Port Said, and Suez Bay, Flags of the Australian Colonies and Shipping Companies as well as other images pasted into the pages of the diary. Diary commences with a description of the Orient Steamer taken from the Lloyds Register. The diary alternates between dated daily entries and various hymns and psalms taken from the New Church Hymn Book.

Significance

This diary is a valuable example of shipboard journal-keeping from the nineteenth century, providing first-hand historical insight into the experiences of immigrants at the time of Australia's Centenary year celebrations. A number of elements make it particularly significant to migration, transport, and public life and institutions collections. The diary dates to 1888, the year of the International Exhibition at the Exhibition Building. It relates a personal account of life aboard the Orient, one of the best-known migrant ships of the period, which is also represented by a model held by the Museum. The diary contains descriptions of the journey as well as ship and voyage-related ephemera from the period which had previously been virtually unrepresented in the collections.

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