Diary of Anne Drysdale, September 1839 to May 1854
Pages from Anne Drysdale's personal diary.
Accession number: MS 9249
From the State Library of Victoria's Manuscripts collection.
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...Mr S is an excellent young man, very enthusiastic in his desire to be of use to the natives and very pious. We have no expectations of ever seeing them again. I forgot that capt Pollock returned with Miss N on Tuesday & on Wednesday morning Armstrong went with him to look at some rams he has for sale. They also took away 2 of the mares with their foals. Today Mr Robert Richardson spent with us, he is the son of Mr R of Edinburgh. A very find young man, he has a cattle station about 50 miles up the country. Armstrong has not yet come home so we sleep every night without a man in the house & no door or window is ever locked! We have now 5 irishmen who work & behave as well as possible. It is a happy life.
Saturday 27th [November 1841] Before breakfast in returning through the garden from feeding the chickens we saw a snake crawling along a bed. We called a man who killed it with a spade. It was only about 3 feet long but had a very venemous looking forked tongue. Miss N went off before dinner to Cardinia & Corio. When she was gone I found a chicken drowned in a pail of water, one of her precious ducks dead & for the 3rd misfortune, Armstrong arrived with 7 rams at ?5 each & in washing them in the river, one was drowned. He was much grieved & wished to pay for it but it was an accident & out of the question. The rams are pure merino and he intends to breed rams for sale. Mr Horsburgh came from Corio & drank tea with us, he is from Cupar, Fife. Miss N came before tea. We must endeavour to get a boat or we shall be liable to many accidents, the banks of the river are so steep the water gets deep quite at the edge.
Thursday December 2nd [1841] On Saturday night the wind blew so violently that we could not sleep, the sheepyards were blown down & both flocks which are at home got out but...
