COPY OF A LETTER FROM WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE HALL TO HIS BROTHER.
Adelaide,
August 8th. 1852.
My dear Frank,
After a rough voyage of three weeks we arrived here in good health. We had a very agreeable lot of chaps on board, I mean when they were not spewing, which all of them did with few exceptions - I was one of these, for having come from a country where I had known the want of grub I thought it very imprudent of the passengers to throw theirs to the fishes. Fred and Ander* looked particularly blue and spouted so much that they looked "very like a whale". Not to be wondered at when great rough chaps laid in bed calling out for sago. Seeing and hearing so many above and below all sick at once was most disgusting and certainly would have upset my etiquette had I not resorted to those very efficacious restoratives a "Tot and a quid." I never wish to go to sea again with women and children, the former because they are all sick and prevent one from smoking below (deck), the latter because they make such a devil of a stink.
From the best authorities we have heard accounts of the Diggins and are better pleased and more sanguine than ever, but find we sho uld not have come quite so soon, at least people say so, we shall know more about it when we get to Melbourne. The things to be considered are these, during the winter there are comparatively few diggers and those constantly leaving are selling off cheaply so that tools are reasonable but at the same time Flour is risen from £8, to £23, pr Bag on account of the roads being one complete bog, when the weather takes up flour will be cheap and tools risen. I hope my dear Brother you will do your best on the Farm, as the Diggins are the most complete lottery in the world - you may be working in the middle and get nothing while all around may be making hundreds a day, however there is an equal chance for all, so we might be lucky - it is some encouragement that all the Diggers intend returning and all say go and try your luck, of course there is no certainty, but should we be unsuccessful it will be great satisfaction to think we have left one at home in whom we have the greatest confidence, on the other hand Fortune favours us we shall lose no time in sending you a share.
The murders and robberies made so much of at the Swan and here are nothing among so many, and thousands of Diggers do not hear of them till their return. Hundreds leave their tents unprotected during the day with pounds of gold in them - the greater part of those who are robbed are people who never had so much money, get drunk in consequence and swagger about with rolls of notes as thick as — are never seen in such hands at the Swan.
This indeed is a wonderful country, when we approached the coast we were delighted to see numbers of farms from the deck of the vessel with a stately range of hills in the background. We took a pilot on board and came up the creek or river for several miles which one could almost shoot across, at the head of which are good wharves and numbers of ships alongside. There are a number of hotels, some better than any at the Swan near the wharves and at the port are inns, shops and stores. There is a fine road from the port to the city 8½ miles & good land all the way with farms except the first mile which is samphire ground like the Villa. The spring carts & omnibus' convey you for 1/6 in about an hour to Hindley Street where you see as many or more people than ever you will at a Fair in Perth - all walk, ride & drive as though they have important business in hand. The display of goods in the shops is excellent but the buildings are not generally good there, there are however some that surpass any at the Swan altogether, the shops and stores are all adjoining, & the lanterns which the Publicans are obliged to keep are almost sufficient to light the street as well -
* Fred Hester, son of the Magistrate Cpt Hester
Ander = Jas Anderton Hall (W.S.H's brother)
