Guide to the letters of James Roberts (as filmed by the AJCP)
M856
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Roberts, James
- Title
- Letters of James Roberts (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 1850 - 1852
- Collection Number
- M856
- Extent
- 5 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Five letters from James Roberts to his family from Adelaide, Port Lincoln and Sydney describing the voyage from England, work conditions, 'the savage aborigines' and the landscape of Australia.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Filmed at the private residence of Miss M. Roberts, England, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1973 (AJCP Reel: M856). Original microfilm digitised as part of the NLA AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
Existence and Location of Originals
The private residence of Miss M. Roberts. Wiltshire, England.
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn711554] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Finding-aid Notes
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2018. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
Advisory Statement
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this Finding Aid contains material and descriptive information which may be considered culturally sensitive and may cause distress, including names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. This Finding Aid contains terms that reflect authors' views or those of the historical period, but which may not be considered appropriate today. While the information may not reflect current understanding, it is provided in an historical context.
Subjects
Adelaide, South Australia; Emigrant voyages; Indigenous Australians; Port Lincoln, South Australia; Roberts, James; South Australia; Sydney, New South Wales
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 388, p148.
Biographical / Historical
Nothing is known of the life of James Roberts apart from the fact that he came from the village of Norton St Philip, Somerset. Internal evidence suggests that he worked in the building trade.
Item Descriptions
[James Roberts] (Adelaide) to his family and friends, n.d. (File)
Discusses: voyage from England; impressions of Adelaide; prices of fruit; search for employment; most of houses made of wood; high cost of living; mutual friends.
James Roberts (Adelaide) to his father [William Roberts], November 1850 (File)
Includes: thanks for letter; mutual friends in the colony; plenty of work with good wages; hopes to return in three or four years; unhealthy climate; dust of Adelaide; Adelaide races.
James Roberts [Adelaide] to [unknown], January 1851 (File)
Includes: illness; unhealthy climate of Adelaide; deaths due to heat; has only received two letters from home; repayment of loan.