Guide to the Guide to Journals of Louis Hope (as filmed by the AJCP)
M980
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Online Items
Journal kept by Hope on the voyage from Portsmouth to Sydney on the Euphrates, 25 March 1843 - 5 August 1843 (File 1)
The journal contains mostly brief entries referring to the weather, winds and seas, other passengers, the sightings of other ships, the loss of livestock, conflict between passengers and sailors, Crossing the Line festivities, pigeon shooting, sighting of albatrosses, the death of a man who fell overboard, the voyage through Bass Strait and along the New South Wales coast, and the arrival in Sydney. The last entry states 'Pity such a place should be a den of thieves indeed'.
Journal kept by Hope on his travels among the Pacific Islands, 2 May 1844 - 14 May 1845 (File 2)
The journal contains intermittent entries, mostly brief but lengthier near the end of the journey. He sailed from Sydney on HMS Thalia to New Zealand, Tahiti, Eimeo and the Sandwich Islands. There are references to meetings with missionaries and the offer to Hope of a partnership in a plantation. There are no entries from November 1844 to March 1845, when Hope was back in Tahiti. He refers to fighting on the island and the arbitrary behaviour of French officials towards British residents. The last part of the journal records the return voyage to Sydney on the schooner Will Watch.
Journal kept by Hope on the voyage from Sydney to Plymouth on the General Hewitt, 17 February 1851 (File 3)
The General Hewitt left Sydney on 26 January 1851, but Hope commenced his journal on 17 February when the ship was sailing eastwards across the Pacific towards Cape Horn. Apart from the first few entries, which summarise the first weeks of the voyage, the entries are very brief, mainly recording the position of the ship, weather conditions, winds and the sighting of other ships. There are a few references to animals and birds being transported to England, including the task of exercising emus.The journal appears to have been written on the blank pages in a book that had been used to record details of flowers and other botanical specimens. Each page of the journal is followed by a page of botanical notes, with occasional variations.
Journal kept by Hope on Kilcoy Station, Queensland, 13 February 1857 - 23 October 1857 (File 4)
The journal contains mostly brief and rough entries recording the weather and the daily work of Hope and his employees on Kilcoy Station in the Somerset region, about 60 miles north-west of Brisbane. There are references to horses, land clearing, fencing, building works, cattle branding, shearing, movement of stock, planting corn, fishing, and the receipt of stores. The journal also records visitors to the station, including wood splitters, sawyers and bullock teams, meetings with Australian Aborigines, and difficulties with flooded creeks. Hope also mentions his frequent journeys to neighbouring stations, particularly Cressbrook Station, Colinton Station, and Mount Brisbane Station...