Reference
SM/E32
Title
Letter from Oscar, Pastures Farm, Australia, to his mother.
Date free text
16 May 1852
Production date
From: 1852 To: 1852
Scope and Content
Has hardly any labour on his farm as all the men have gone to the gold diggings. He went to Melbourne to take supplies etc. Had difficulty in unloading them because of the shortage of labour, but managed to get help. '...Melbourne is a handsome town will situated the streets wide, and the buildings good, much superior to Adelaide but the country round I do not like there is nothing but a town, no villages, no farms, no gardings, so unlike this place...' Then he walked to the gold diggings (90 miles) because of the difficulty of getting fodder for horses. '...the thousands of tents, the tens of thousands of men at one avocation, washing for gold...I should say out of every hundred that work at the diggins, and it is a calculation that is generally thought just, that forty do nothing, forty five make good wages... and the remaining fifiteen make a fortune...I went down several holes to endeavor to find a nugget, but was unsuccessful...the diggers dig down about twelve to twenty feet...the bottom consists of a bottome of slate or sandstone, and in the crevices of this slate or sandstone, is found the largest pieces..' Has sent a few nuggets home to England for the family. Thanks her for her picture.
Level of description
item