Joseph Gillott journal, book one
Author
Joseph Gillott
(1851 - 1939)
Date1881
Object numberANMS1471[002]
NameJournal
MediumPaper, ink
DimensionsOverall (White cover open): 204 × 255 mm
Overall (White cover closed): 204 × 127 mm
Overall (Blue sheets closed): 178 × 113 mm
Overall (Blue sheets open): 178 × 224 mm
Overall (White cover closed): 204 × 127 mm
Overall (Blue sheets closed): 178 × 113 mm
Overall (Blue sheets open): 178 × 224 mm
ClassificationsBooks and journals
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Peter R Gillott
DescriptionA 271 page journal composed by Joseph Gillott (1851-1939) on his migration from England to Melbourne, Australia in 1881 aboard the P&O steamers KAISAR-I-HIND and ROSETTA.
Book one was originally placed between the first and second sheets of the pink document organiser registered as ANMS1471[001].
HistoryGillott studied music at the Royal Conservatorium of Music in Leipzig, Germany and worked as a music teacher, concert musician and composer. He spent twenty years in Melbourne teaching music, giving concerts, composing and writing for the press. His body of work includes songs on patriotic themes and the subject of Federation, notably “Sons of the Southern Seas.” As an author, Gillott’s journal is written in an engaging style and contains vivid descriptions of conditions aboard ship, ports of call, his fellow passengers and daily life at sea. The journal is a significant example of its type, of notable literary quality detailing the migrant experience in the steamships of the last quarter of the 19th century.SignificanceThe journal is exemplary of its type. Although material detailing the migrant experience in the 1880s is not uncommon, due in part to rising rates of literacy, this is an outstanding account with rich narrative detail and literary quality. Gillott is also a figure of note as a colonial era composer, who with his nationalistic songs contributed to the conceptualisation of an Australian identity distinct from Britain in the pre-Federation era.
