Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/382

This page has been validated.
360
THE THREE COLONIES OF AUSTRALIA.

us. 'It will be here to-morrow,' was his reply when asked about it. To-morrow came, but no lighter. Passengers got savage; some swore; some urged that a deputation should be sent to the agent of the ship, and to the magistrates of Melbourne. This course was adopted; two gentlemen were deputed to go. They went. The agent told them he knew nothing about it, and that they had better get on shore with their luggage as best they could. The magistrates said, 'Make your case known to a respectable solicitor, and we will hear it.' Thus were we pushed about from one to another. One man took his luggage ashore in a boat, at his own cost, at an expense of £9 sterling. Had I followed his example it would have cost me as much. I went to the captain; he assured me the lighter would come in a few days, and, being sick of the ship, Mary and I, along with a Mrs. W—— and her daughter, bolted from the ship, and left our luggage to the care of Providence. We slept two nights in an inn. Mr. W——'s luggage came at the expiry of that period in a lighter, and we then got his boxes into one of the wooden houses previously taken. There we lived for a fortnight. None of my luggage came ashore all that time. I was in the same position as the rest of the passengers, and after waiting and wearying our hopes almost out, we got everything safe and sound out of the lighter on the 1st of November. That, however, was but one-half of my troubles. Melbourne was flooded with young men seeking situations, which were not to be had."

After several unsuccessful applications for employment, and some other mishaps, the writer continues—

"Sad, dejected, and weary, we reached Mr. W——'s house, where we slept all night. Next day I got up my luggage and took one of P——'s rooms, dressed myself in my best, went to the Argus office, quite in a state of desperation, and was civilly received, and offered at once a situation at £208 per annum."


LANDING.

"Melbourne, Nov. 4, 1852.

"Here am I at this moment seated on a trunk, with my writing-desk opened on the top of another trunk, and a blazing wood fire on the hearth, with the lamp that served us on the voyage lighted beside me. My wife is seated on my carpet bag, stuffed with dirty clothes, busily engaged in mending stockings, which yesterday she washed and dried at the front of the house. The floor is covered with canvass; the walls are of wood, through which the light shines when the lamp is extinguished, and the roof is also covered with pieces of wood instead of good blue slates. Our mattresses, which served us on the ship—