Diary 5.6.1883

Tuesday June 5

In bed at 8 o’clock, porridge and coffee for breakfast, still cold and rough. Emily Ann was not so well, sick and headache, so the Doctor gave her box of pills and some port wine. Lat. 43.19W Long, 79 distance 243 miles.

Diary 4.6.1883

Monday June 4

In bed when the porridge was ready, had very little rest during the night, wet and cold, the weather still very squally. Lat. 44S Long. 74.36 distance 201 miles.

(The Nairnshire was 965 ton, 204 feet long and 33.5 feet wide. On this voyage it carried a cargo of pig iron for Portland in Oregon, as well as the 341 passengers with their possessions, and a compliment of crew - very little room below decks for anyone in wild wet weather).

Skater's Waltz

In May I reviewed the book "Pig with six legs" at Head in the clouds which has allsorts of cloud formations. I'm calling this one "Skater's Waltz", it is the contrails of jets circling while waiting for the fog to clear from Tullamarine Airport this morning.

Diary 3.6.1883

Sunday June 3

Had a very stormy night, about 1:30 this morning all was going nice and steady when the wind suddenly changed and went around to the other side, sent the ship onto her side which gave all a shock. For about five minutes we could not tell how it was going to end, tins and boxes running all over the place and a very large tub rolling about on deck it had got loose. The noise and uproar was simply indescribable, have to hold yourself in bed. We are thankful to God for his mercy in sparing us, the ship was rolling over all the time.
It would be about 9:10 Sunday evening at home, we are about four hours and twenty-six minutes before your English time now. Distance 170 miles.

Diary 2.6.1883

Saturday June 2

The sea is still very lumpy, quite cold again, this day is a day that is not soon to be forgotten. The sailors came on duty at 12 o’clock, were sent aloft to take in sail and while they were reefing in one of the top sails in, one of them was reaching over the crosstree and got hold of the sail when a squall of wind blew him right over and he fell from out of the sail on to the deck, a distance of seventy feet. He only lived ten minutes after, it took place about 12:20 and the funeral was at 4:30. He never spoke after the sad event and it cast a gloom all over the ship. I was below at the time I could hear the thump, Emily was just at the bottom of the hatchway, if she had not called to see Mrs Hebdon she would have been at the top of the main hatch. He dropped about four yards from the top of it.

Just after tea Ruth Emmeline had a bad fall, she had one of the drinking tins in her hand and fell on top of it with her mouth and knocked out one of her front teeth. Lat. 44.21S Long. 65.19E.

Derelict Diapur

I haven't posted any abandoned buildings for some time, so here are a few from Diapur.

Diapur (Aboriginal for crabhole/swamp) is just north of the Melbourne-Adelaide Highway, between Nhill and Kaniva.



The Railway from Nhill arrived in 1886, and a huge dam had to be scooped out for the inter-state trains which stopped there for water.


The water tower

Diapur had its own brickworks, also hotel, general store, post office, blacksmith, saddler, bootmaker & Bible Christian Church.

Now just the silos, hall and a few houses.

The original hall
A new larger hall building was built in 1967.

The author of “Mad as rabbits” Elizabeth Lane grew up in the district, and the area is depicted in the book.

The weightbridge building

Diary 1.6.1883

Friday June 1

In bed when the porridge was ready that was 7:30 instead of 8 o’clock. It is a very mild morning the sea as calm as a river until afternoon, then the wind began to blow and it became quite rough by night. Distance today 226 miles.

Diary 31.5.1883

Thursday May 31

Still blowing very hard with showers of rain but had to stop most of the time below which is not a very pleasant place on a wet day.

Diary 30.5.1883

Wednesday May 30

Very rough today, I was washing yesterday but I have had to suffer for it all night with pain in my legs, cold water to wash in I do not think I shall do it again while it is so cold. We could not sleep last night it was so very rough, they had to take the sails in or it would have taken sails and masts all away, we keep having hail storms today, we have got a good log today Lat. 44.19S Long. 48.5E distance 285 miles.