Guide to the Papers of the McCracken Family (as filmed by the AJCP)
M1976
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Online Items
Series. Alexander McCracken, 1849 - 1857
Journal of Alexander McCracken (43 ff., photocopy), 4 January 1849 - 28 April 1849 (File 2)
The journal briefly describes his marriage to Jane McCracken at Auchencrosh on 4 January 1849 and their journey to Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. It gives a more detailed account of their voyage to Australia on the William Hyde, leaving Gravesend on 11 January and Plymouth on 28 January. It refers to the weather, storms, sighting of birds and fish, rations, fellow passengers, disputes about cabins, fights and drunkenness, church services, meetings with ships, and sightings of the islands of St. Antonio and St. Paul. The ship reached Adelaide in early May 1849.
Letters of Alexander McCracken (12 letters), 1849 - 1857 (File 3)
The letters were written to various members of the family in Scotland from Plymouth, Port Adelaide, Melbourne and his farm at Saltwater Creek. They refer to preparations for the voyage, a visit to Plymouth Dockyard, the voyage to Australia on the William Hyde, weather, food, impressions of Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills, wages and rents, establishment of a dairy in Melbourne, farming, construction of a house, wheat sales, a riding accident, mutual friends, financial matters, bushfires, economic conditions in Melbourne, the goldrushes, bushrangers, influx of convicts from Van Diemen's Land, death of nephew William McCracken, family news, illnesses of Jane McCracken. One letter is incomplete. Two of the letters have been transcribed.
Series. Jane McCracken, 1849 - 1857
Letters of Jane McCracken (45 letters), 1849 - 1857 (File 4)
The letters were written to her mother and other members of her family in Scotland from London, Plymouth, Port Adelaide, Melbourne and Saltwater Creek. They refer to their arrival in London, preparations for the voyage on the William Hyde, the voyage to Australia, fellow-passengers, provisions, first impressions of the Australian landscape, aborigines at Port Adelaide, Robert and Peter McCracken, James Robertson, prices in Adelaide and Melbourne, early impressions of colonial life, problems in establishing dairy, birth of children Grace (February 1850), Robert (July 1852), William (May 1854), mutual friends, Scottish emigrants, problems with servants, farming, crops, storms, drought, hay prices, marriage of Robert McCracken (1852), Church affairs, Rev. J.D. Lang, Rev. A.M. Ramsay, Rev. Chapman, news from goldfields, agitation against miners licences, increase in crime in Melbourne, progress of brewery, social events, holidays at Ardwell and St. Kilda, Crimean War, growth of children, illnesses, news of family and friends in Scotland, religious beliefs...
Series. Miscellaneous Papers, 1865 - 1936
[John Cochrane] (Ashburton) to McCracken, 13 January 1865 (File 5)
Sends draft for £12 for sister; work on New Zealand sheep station; family news. (incomplete)
[unknown] to McCracken (File 7)
Wool sales; New Zealand politics; roads; William and Robert McCracken.
Thomas McKean (Winton, New Zealand) to Mrs McCormack, 24 October 1884 (File 8)
Death of her brother William McCracken; inquest; stock and money; refers to Robert McCracken in Queensland.
Rev. J. Baird to A. McCaw, 28 October 1884 (File 9)
Death of William McCracken; McCracken's solitary life and drunkenness; interest in religion, inquest.
Alex McCaw (Oamaru) to James McCracken, 31 October 1884 (File 10)
Death of William McCracken; encloses letter of Rev J. Baird; economic conditions in New Zealand; recollections of boyhood in Scotland.