A detailed manuscript account of a a third-class passenger's voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne aboard the SS Great Britain, the first iron-hulled steam propelled ocean liner and one of the most successful emigrant ships on the route to Australia.

Written in the form of a letter home from Hamilton, Victoria, the author 'Austin' writes of his journey in the steamer, said to be 'the best the "Great Britain" has ever made'. There seems to be a strong religious contingent on board, with the author firmly in the mix, and a separate sense of the regular passengers. The author recounts several lectures by the missionaries on board ('we had a lecture today on the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the [New Abredea] Islands') and makes a point of 'how many warrant passengers we have on board - there are 124 of them'. Warrant (or remittance) passengers were assisted in their journey either by being selected by agents in the UK or nominated by colonists in Australia to have their travel subsidised by the government. There is a distinct lack of anxiety in the author's remarks, which is explained when he eventually lands in Melbourne and meets his uncle who takes him out to Hamilton. By this point the labour boom was in full swing in Victoria, with agriculture expanding alongside the gold rush ('they are bringing out different kinds of plants to Australia, cotton is one, to is going to be tried to see whether the Australian soil and climate will suit it'), and the author clearly has little worry about his prospects. The final 18 pages are made up of poems and verse, seemingly original, penned by the author, largely dedicated to his family or nature.

SS Great Britain was one of the most consistent passenger liners to travel to Victoria: between 1852 and 1875 she made 32 voyages and carried over 16,000 immigrants following the gold rush in 1851.

Small 4to (23 x 18 cm); 38pp. manuscript in ink, dated in a later hand to front pastedown, a few tears to pages through midsection without loss, waterstaining and paper remains to single page effecting legibility of single poem; sewn in original paper wrappers, at some time folded, text block starting to come loose, a little frayed, good.