Jacob Scheef - Letters to Home

Jacob Scheef - Letters to Home - 17 May 1885

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his third letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia. Biographical Entry

John Elder Adelaide
the 17 May 1885

My dear wife and children

I wrote to you from Melbourne and also I received a letter from you of the same same content as the one I got in Sydney when I wrote last I was not yet in the city so could tell you nothing of it since I have seen a good deal of it Directly we were on the wharf I went and posted my letter and had one or two hours in the city the Sydney is a fine city but is not a patch to Melbourne because the street are all two chains wide and are all straight the next day I went again and seen the Exhibition Building as well as the aquarium with all the fishes also the Museum and the Botanical Gardens and the Town in general the country around the city is nice and green something Spring the 16 at morning 7 o’clock we left the wharf and outside again about twelve the same head wind again as from Sydney now arrived went to work again because we had same weather as from Sydney. We are about 100 now in the steerage amongst are 4 Germans, 2 Wurttemberg one Saxe one Holstein which comes from the Murray River has land there and comes back here again our steaming is the same there is always to be seen on the right land last night at dusk we passed Cape Ottway about 100 miles from Melbourne we expect to reach Adelaide this evening where I will post this my health remains good and I don’t think you will receive another letter before 3 weeks as they have coal that will bring us through the red sea so my next letter probably will be from Naples So I wish Good bye for the present and trust that you are all well and remain so

Your loving Husband

and Father

Jacob F Scheef

it is very bad writing on board ship

Caroline Chisholm

I am currently in England visiting my daughter who is working in London. Naturally I decided I would have to spend some time on genealogical pursuits. The problem was where would I choose for a few day's retreat from London? In the end I decided to go to Northampton to visit the grave of Caroline Chisholm. Caroline is known as the immigrant's friend. She was a well known social reformer of her day. Why is Caroline significant to me and my family? You may recall that Caroline Chisholm was on the original $5 note in Australia. As well as her image there was a picture of a ship. That ship was the Waverley . Caroline agitated at the Home Office to reunite the wives and families of convicts with their husbands and fathers. On 22 June 1847 she wrote that she ‘had just left the Home Office and had obtained a passage per Waverley for forty-nine souls.’ SMH 9 August 1847, extract from letter 30 March 1847. My great great grandmother Matilda Agnew, her older siblings James, Joh...

Family Homes - No 3 - Moolan Downs, Queensland

My previous Family Home post showed the childhood home of Catherine Ellen Dawson . After leaving Tasmania Catherine moved to Melbourne with her mother and siblings after the death of her father Dr William Lee Dawson. Catherine married Gustav Baumgarten in Melbourne on 30th November 1876. They lived at Pleasant Bank Vineyard at Barnawatha. According to the Cyclopedia of Victoria they had 180 acres of vines, 465 acres of agricultural and grazing land and a further 300 acres under cultivation. During 1908 the Baumgarten family moved from Barnawatha to Moolan Downs, near Meandarra west of Dalby. They left a thriving business with an established homestead and moved to western Queensland. One of their first tasks when they arrived was to build the dwelling shown below. Original dwelling at Moolan Downs - c1908 The second house at Moolan Downs The final homestead at Moolan Downs One can only admire our early pioneering families. Gustav died at Moolan Downs...

The Tree of Me

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