Diary of a Welsh Swagman 1869-1894

By William Evans and Joseph Jenkins

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0725102462
• ISBN13: 9780725102463
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Sun Books Melbourne
• Length: 237 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.7" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

They bred 'em tough in the old days

I started reading this book as the map showed he travelled through familiar places. I was soon hooked into a diary of a man who came to Australia for unspecified reasons (he mentioned vague family problems) at the age of 51, leaving his large family behind. He details his thoughts upon arrival in the colony and gives a vivid description of local conditions. He then relates walking 200 miles into the bush to look for work, being robbed, cheated, beaten and snake bittten many times, working 18-20 hour days of heavy labour, poverty, starvation, being cooked by the sun of frozen by the snow (I am a bit dubious on some of the things he wrote; especially the temperatures given and descriptions of local fauna). All this from a person who was well into his middle age when he arrived on the other side of the world!He also describes how he writes poetry in Welsh (in his spare time). He states how he would walk to the Ballarat Eisteddfod (which is still running) each year to compete in the poetry competition and which he won many times. These diaries he wrote have been well edited with occasional footnotes. They give an excellent understanding of life in the early colony of Victoria. Anyone interested in Australian history post goldrush and prior to federation would be well advised giving this a read.