Starting a new life in Australia: Nineteenth century diaries of migrants from the United Kingdom | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Starting a new life in Australia: Nineteenth century diaries of migrants from the United Kingdom

Published on 19 Feb 2025

Among the Library’s collection are dozens of handwritten diaries by migrants who travelled to make Australia their home in the nineteenth century. Some have extensive reports of their voyage at sea, while others record their early years in the country.  

Over the last few years, thanks to generous donations, the Library has been digitising many of these diaries so that they can be read online. Explore some of these diaries below. 

Three leatherbound diaries from the nineteenth century, one open showing neat handwriting

Felton and Sarah Mathew

Making up seven volumes, the diaries of Felton and Sarah Mathew record their months at sea travelling to Australia and their years in New South Wales. This includes Felton’s surveying work in the Hawkesbury and Hunter District.

Read the diaries of Felton and Sarah Mathew 

Open diary, with handwriting on the left page and a dried plant sample on the right page.

Felton and Sarah Mathew, Diary - Volume 1, 1832, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3403682645

Felton and Sarah Mathew, Diary - Volume 1, 1832, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3403682645

Hugh Hamilton

In March 1841, 18-year-old Hugh Hamilton set off from London to create a life for himself in Australia.  Having settled on a property on the Lachlan River just west of Bathurst, the discovery of gold in the region changed his life even further.    

The diaries he kept during this time detail his voyage to Australia all the way to his experiences prospecting, buying and selling gold, and issuing licenses as Gold Commissioner for various goldfields.

Read Hugh Hamilton’s diaries

Paper with cursive hand writing. The title reads '1851' and the text provides an introduction to the diary and why Hugh Hamilton is writing it.

High Hamilton, Diary - Volume 2, 1851, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3419625246

High Hamilton, Diary - Volume 2, 1851, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3419625246

Mary Braidwood Mole

Though she first arrived in Australia with her parents in the 1830s, it wasn’t until the early 1850s that Mary Braidwood Mole began documenting her life in diaries. Living in what became Braidwood, named from the Braidwood Farm owned by her father Thomas Braidwood Wilson, these diaries offer a rare insight into the challenges and experiences of a female migrant in rural Australia.  

Read Mary Braidwood Mole’s diaries

Old, black and white portrait of a young woman in a white dress and a man in a suit in an ornate gold frame

Portrait in frame, c. 1850, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3419856378

Portrait in frame, c. 1850, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3419856378

George Randall

George Randall was a confectionery manufacturer, migration officer and orchardist. His diary details the voyage from London to Brisbane on the ship Planet in 1868.  

Read George Randall’s diary

Pencil sketch of a ship at sea

George Randall, Diary of George Randall, 1868, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3396756064

George Randall, Diary of George Randall, 1868, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3396756064

Charlotte Waring Atkinson  

Charlotte Waring, who is thought to be the author of the first children’s book published in Australia, travelled to Australia in 1826 on board the Cumberland. It was on this journey that she met and became engaged to her first husband, fellow author James Atkinson.  

This diary details the first part of the voyage, from London to the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain.  

Read Charlotte Waring Atkinson’s diary

John Sceales

John Sceales kept a very detailed log of his journey from Leith to Sydney aboard the North Briton. Starting at the ship's departure in August 1838, his diary details daily life aboard this ship, including songs that were sung in the evening, as well as the animals and other ships encountered, with illustrations throughout.  

Read John Sceales’s diary 

Coloured sketch of an albatross bird with it's wings up over the ocean

John Sceales, Logbook and diary of John Sceales, 1838-1842, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3183940717

John Sceales, Logbook and diary of John Sceales, 1838-1842, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3183940717

Jessie Couvreur

Jessie Catherine Couvreur is best known for her work as a journalist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym "Tasma". While she migrated from England to Australia as a child, this diary details her journey back to Europe aboard the Windward in her 20s. 

Read Jessie Couvreur’s diary  

Learn more about Couvreur and other female journalists blazed a trail in our Bold Types book and podcast.

Woman, Jessie Catherine Couvreur, sitting sideways on a couch

Portrait of Mrs. Jessie Catherine Couvreur, née Hybers ("Tasma"), 1889, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148362079

Portrait of Mrs. Jessie Catherine Couvreur, née Hybers ("Tasma"), 1889, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148362079

Theo West

The diary of Theo West has short, almost daily entries describing his voyage from Plymouth to Sydney in the 1850s.  

Read Theo West’s diary

Jupiter just above young moon making whole circle distinctly visible... Sea peculiar bright blue & beautiful sparkle small rainbows frequent in dashing spray.

William Reay

William Reay’s diary records his journey from England to Sydney on the sailing ship Parramatta with his wife and daughter. He tracked their approximate location, the weather and daily happenings on the ship.

Read William Reay’s diary

Handwritten paragraph in a diary describing the health of everyone aboard a ship and the food available. On the left are some details of the ship's location and speed.

William Reay, Diary of William Reay, 1877, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3417933280

William Reay, Diary of William Reay, 1877, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3417933280

Emily Braine

Emily Braine was only 10 years old when she travelled from Liverpool to Melbourne on the Eagle. Her diary details her own health and that of her family, births and deaths aboard the ship, and encounters with other boats, sea life, and rough weather.  

Read Emily Braine’s diary

A ship in sight, another man died today. We witnessed for the first time a corpse buried in the great deep. The body is sewn up in a piece of canvass with a stone at the feet and it is slid along a plank into the water, what a sound beside the dashing of the water, the burial service is read. 2 deaths in a week, it almost frightens us.

Claudius Beresford Cairnes

Also going from Liverpool to Melbourne, though some years later, was Claudius Beresford Cairnes. His diary starts on 16 October 1860, three days before the ship he travelled on, James Booth, set sail.  

Read Claudius Beresford Cairnes’s diary

Alberto Dias Soares

Alberto Dias Soares was a Church of England clergyman and church architect who came from England in 1852. This diary, starting three years after his arrival, documents his new life and work in Australia.  

Read Alberto Dias Soares’s diary

Page of a diary with description of the goals of the writer, 'to records faithfully the growth and decline of religion'

Alberto Dias Soares, Diary of Alberto Dias Soares, 1856, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3465930260

Alberto Dias Soares, Diary of Alberto Dias Soares, 1856, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3465930260

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