Emigration

On board the Tulloch Castle to Melbourne, 1852

27th July 2015
The 1850s gold rush in Australia attracted thousand of immigrants and would-be prospectors, and Guernsey was by no means immune to gold fever. 18-year old William Francis Nicolle recorded his voyage to Melbourne in the summer of 1852 in his Journal, which was generously donated to the Library by Stephen Foote. Nicolle followed this with an account of his return from Australia in the freezing cold on board the Avon. His Journal also includes a substantial amount of family history material (Nicolle, De Garis, Lainé, Lamble &c.), as well as other accounts of later voyages made on board cargo ships. He was a carpenter by trade, and the book also includes carefully written instructions for calculations, presumably for reference purposes. Finally, his poem in memory of Nicholas de Mouilpied, who died on the voyage out, aged 22.

14 August 1818: A Letter from Gaspe

This letter from a Methodist preacher in Canada is taken from the Magasin Méthodiste of 1818. This French-language publication, intended primarily for Channel Island consumption, was produced at the instigation and probably the expense of the indefatigable Methodist pioneer, Jean de Queteville. The Priaulx Library may be unique in holding a complete run of the magazine, which contains original articles in French and translations of contributions from the English monthly, Methodist Magazine.

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