Catching up after all the excitement of reaching Bexhill and I have travelled much of the Australian coastline in Annie’s path, from Adelaide to Townsville. Her descriptions of the landscape and places visited evoke a lovely sense of the country as it was, very much in development, capturing a sense of the attitudes and values of the day. From Annie’s perspective at least. Some attitudes don’t always seem that distant.
“Working men in the colonies have a good time if they can only keep sober and are honest and industrious. Indeed those in the old country can scarcely form an idea of how superior the working man’s condition is out here. Of course there are quite as many ne’er-do-wells here as in the old country, and I fear that the policy of the Government rather encourages this class, and that there is trouble in store in the near future…”
Annie’s experience of rail travel is a little more different, however, I haven’t had any galloping horses when I’ve been late for a train…
“We waited until a quarter to seven, and then, as our proffered escort did not turn up, we had to go to the station without it, for fear of missing the train. Five gallant members of the troop joined us on the way. The commanding officer wore blue dress uniform, and the others were in scarlet. It was amusing, on our way to the station, to see the late comers galloping furiously along the road…” (The Last Voyage, Lady Brassey)
Sunlander leaving Maryborough West for Cairns (Louise Kenward, 2014)
One of the most striking practices in Australia which hasn’t altered since Annie’s visit, is the way that each state has their own Governments, their own laws, their own way of doing things. This is a little disconcerting for visitors, but does help to make sense of some of the peculiarities I have come across. This was especially surprising with regards to train travel (I had naively assumed it would be the one company I would deal with travelling around the one country). When Annie travelled by train from New South Wales into Queensland she had to walk through a fence, crossing the border on foot.
At Wallangarra “…we left the train and stepped through the rail fence which divides New South Wales from Queensland. A walk of about 200 yards brought us to the Queensland train, where we found a comfortable carriage prepared for our reception…” (The Last Voyage, Annie Brassey).
From there she travelled to Tawoomba on the rail line running alongside what is now the New England Highway, linking Sydney and Brisbane. The line has ceased use in recent years, although the station on the border is now kept as a museum. Alas, there is still no connecting train service from New South Wales to Queensland. Instead, a convoluted bus connection will travel from Casino to Brisbane. Given the penchant for gambling Australia has, and the chances you take in deciphering the bus timetables, Casino seems entirely appropriately named. I had been looking forward to trying to find the point at which Annie crossed through the fencing on the border, but it is some distance further inland. The train service today runs more or less along the East coast. Again it does seem that it has not altered significantly since the end of the nineteenth century in many respects. While this does add to its charm for the most part, it has made being stranded in Townsville following cyclone Ita all the more frustrating, as I am trying to rebook a train north to Cairns for the third time in as many days.
Sunlander, last stop Townsville (Louise Kenward, 2014)
Sailing through the Whitsunday passage and around the islands last week. (Louise Kenward, 2014)
Whitsunday sailing (Louise Kenward, 2014)
Sydney Harbour Bridge by night (Louise Kenward, 2014)
Great Ocean Road (Louise Kenward, 2014)
State Library, Adelaide (Louise Kenward, 2014)
Travelling from Adelaide to Melbourne, Sydney and on to Brisbane, sailing through the Whitsunday Islands and on up to Townsville, I have crossed Annie’s journey at each point. Lord and Lady Brassey enjoyed a very thorough trip of Australia and I am spending about the same amount of time here that they did. What has also been wonderful is the trace left by their journey. In State libraries I have found references to the couple, from books written about Governors and their wives, with fabulously gossipy tales of the women who did not get along, to entries made in newspapers recording their trip and stops made along the way. Regarding the former, it seems that lovely Annie was far more dignified in her diaries than the ‘perfect Governors wife’ Lady Loch, who’s halo rather slipped when she wrote
“‘I never saw anyone give themselves such airs as Ldy Br and they certainly will not be loved in Australia…I think they stir up my bile (especially Ldy B) more than any one I ever met in my life…’ She [Lady Loch] thought Lady Brassey ‘must be mad’ and when she received a gushing letter of thanks decided that she was a hypocrite as well: ‘Tho’ I knew she hated me she signs herself “my very aff-ate!” Lady Loch’s judgement may not have been so harsh had she known that Lady Brassey was suffering from recurrent attacks of malaria…” Colonial Consorts, The Wives of Victorian Governors, Marguerite Hancock (Chapter 9)
On discovering this, I was keen to re-read Annie’s diaries, I didn’t recall a Lady Loch, and am sure I would have remembered this. However, the best I could come up with was this:
“…we lunched at Government House. After bidding goodbye to HE and Lady Loch, from whom we have received so much kindness…” (The Last Voyage, Annie Brassey, 20th June)
Straight talking Annie remains as dignified as ever!
Combined with re-tracing places visited, identifying locations the Sunbeam docked, and people met, it has evoked a greater sense of Annie’s presence. This shift in time and place was made all the more real when, in the Victoria State Library in Melbourne, the very helpful librarian, Katie, seemed surprisingly knowledgeable of the Sunbeam and Annie, as if she was regularly being asked about this Englishwoman from the nineteenth century. As I made to leave, we chatted more about my trip and the reasons for my interest, at which point Katie tells me that she is in fact a descendent of one of the crew who allegedly ‘jumped ship’ from the Sunbeam. I was utterly awe struck. A very physical connection to the very boat I have been tracking around the globe. Tall story or not this is golden to me. To be so close to the Sunbeam and the voyage I am following, it was incredible. There have been moments in my journey where Annie has felt as though she is just around the corner, and once again I am left wondering just how far away Annie actually is.