Our voyage to Australia via Capetown by the SS NORSEMAN which sailed July 31st 1912

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Our voyage to Australia via Capetown by the SS NORSEMAN which sailed July 31st 1912

Author Elizabeth Moulding

Date1912

Object number00039552

NameDiary

MediumPaper

Dimensions260 x 210 mm

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Dorothy Ellis

Collections

Manuscript diaries, journals and logs

Terms

DescriptionDiary written in ink on loose leaf paper penned by Elizabeth Moulding during her voyage to Australia on the Aberdeen White Star Line ship SS NORSEMAN. It recounts her and her sister's journey, particularly the poor conditions onboard. The first page is titled 'Our voyage to Australia via Capetown by the SS NORSEMAN which sailed July 31st 1912' from Tilbury Dock. Elizabeth Moulding was migrating to Australia from England.HistoryElizabeth Walls married Edward Moulding in 1904 in the town of Blackrod, Lancashire. Her sister Mary, married Edward's brother Peter. Elizabeth worked in the cotton mills as a weaver and Edward was trained as a mechanical engineer. The Moulding brothers decided to migrate to Australia after Peter's doctor recommended 'a long seajourney' as a remedy for his chronic asthma. Dorothy suggests that bigotry against Methodists in the district and unrest in the mills may have also motivated the brothers' decision to leave. Edward and Peter were unsure if life in Australia would be 'fit for a lady' and decided to send for the sisters after they had tested the waters. Once they arrived, Peter secured a job as an electrical engineer in Melbourne and Edward eventually found work in Queenstown,Tasmania. He despised the working conditions there and soon found work as a mechanical engineer in the IXL jam factory in Hobart. Several months later the brothers sent for Elizabeth, Mary, and Mary's two children. Bill(8) and Annie(12). Elizabeth settled with Edward in Hobart eventually transferring to IXL in Sydney. In 1919, at the age of 45, she gave birth to her only child, Dorothy. The Mouldings never returned to England, although Dorothy believes that this was mainly due to financial considerations.