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Letter of 1881
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                  • September 4th 1881

Dear Mother.
I write these few lines hoping it will find you all quite well as it leaves me at present I dare say you wondered how it was I did not write before but I did not know where to write to till we received your Letter.

I are now living at Mrs. Mason’s which is Mr Churchill’s Daughter. I are getting 6s/1— a week at a printing office which is for not much longer for I have been working there 12 months now and he promised to give me a rise in 1 Month and he has not give it me yet.

Australia is a very nice country but It is very hot in the summer which is in December. There is plenty of Mosquitoes in the

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Summer which (above line) is a great nuisance For if they bite you the will rise a lump as big as a nut. People have to have mosquito netting round their bed at night to keep them out.they make a noise like a bee and you can scarcely see them they are so small, there is a good few natives in Maryborough which is a black race of people and they are very ugly. They will talk to you in English as well as they can. The Jen (Or Jin. I can’t read which) that is the black mans wife carries a bLanket over her shoulder with her child in which they call their (above line) Piccadiny (sic) they very often fight together with Knives and (Tommyhawks) that is a small chopper) There is a good few CooLies in

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maryborough that is another race of blacks but they are more tamed or civiler than they natives of Maryborough. The Coolies are natives of the south sea Islands. we dont have very much rain in maryborough But when we do have it it comes down regular in sheets we have very heavy thunder and lightening in Maryborough In the summer especially. I should like to hear how you are all going on and how little Frankey is and Berty I should like to hear some news from all of you both Lizzie Emma Clara Harry Frank and how you are all getting on I heard that you had a very cold winter and frost and snow which we never get in Australia.we get some heavy dews in the

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morning but they do clear off before 8 c’clock. My Father is at Dundathua which is 8 miles by the river and 9 by Iand.we go to see him every fortnight or three weeks.when I say we I mean me and my Companion, we go in a boat down the river which belongs to my Companion, it takes us about 2 hours & 1/2 to go down we have to go down by the tide and then stop at Dundathu till the tide (added above) it turns and come back by the tide it is one week and two days sience we went to see him. I expect him up in another week (to pay us a visit) (added above week) Dundathua is a very lonely place there being only one saw mill and a few humpeys which means houses they are all built of wood and the fireplace

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  • is on the floor there is a few humpeys got camp ovens in that is a square oven with a place to put a fire underneath it and a place to put a fire on the top. There is a few houses with upstairs to but it is all the big folks that get them.you can get a humpey witha place to have your meals in and a place to sleep and a back kitchen for 2/6 but you do have to buy water.You can get a nice humpey for 6s with 4 rooms a big paddock or yard to yourself

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    and a big tank to keep your water in and to ketch it in.which is better than buying it for you have to pay 1/s a cask and 2/1 in dry weather. there is very little coal burnt in maryborough and what is burnt is in the foundrysrand on the river steamers for: it is to

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  • dear to burn in the house the wood is 6/1 a cart load and 7/1. cu.t it is worth the money to cut it for it is big trees when you pay 6/1 and it is about a yard or two long when it is chopped.there is some very curious animals in maryborough there is some very pretty parrots in maryborough one lot is called Blue mountains and another green leaks.the Blue mountains are the biggest of the two and they are of a blue colour but when you lift their wings up it looks beautiful for their feathers are all colours you can think of. the blue mountains are of the same as the green leaks only the green leake is of a green colour & the blue mountain is of a Blue Colour I had two myself and my Father made me a trap
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  • cage to trap them in. the parrots are very cheap they are 1/1 and 1/6 a pair.I was to late in the season so I didn’t catch only three and after a while I sold them for they take to much to keep them. they eat sugar and maize meal and the sugar fourpence and the maize meal 3d and they have to be fed three times a day.

    • My father as made two small round (both words above line) tables and 3 or 4 boxes sience he has been here in Maryborough but the people of Maryborough dont care to part with their money they are best part of them on the saving systymn so he didn’t sell only 2 of the boxes 1 plain one and one ornamented Father as been working at the saw mills while he was in Maryborough and lost half his finger. Father has been at Dundathua 1 month now. The meat his very cheap here but it has rose this

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  • month it was 1 1/2d and ld before it rose but now it is 2 1/2d and 3     we had a very pleasant voyage and no deaths the food was not very good and what made it worse we had a very disagreeable cook and a dirty one too for he used to boil the tea in the same furnace as the soup. and when we had rise he used to burn it and the same with the porridge which we used to get every other morning at last we went up to the Doctor and agreed to have the tea served out but some of the dirty Irish would nt (above line) agree to have it served out so the cook used to boil it for them we didn’t have very rough weather but it was plenty rough enough for the waves was just like mountains and we had a heavy wind or squall now and again
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  • and was then waiting for the steamer to take us to land and you can imagine how strange we felt when we stepped on land the Windsor Castle was the name of the ship and a fine ship to for she passed everything she came to both storms and calms and we was just 13 week coming out a very smart voyage, we went ashore two days after we anchored. In the small river steamer Fitzroy and when we got there there were a good many waiting to see us land and then we walked straight to the Dippo that is a place that you sleep and have your meals in till you get ingaged with some one to give you (2 words above line) work. And a nice place it was when we got there for it is a long shed and there was nothing to lie on but the floor till late in the

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    evening when the Dippo master came and gave us a bed. they was not provided for us when we got there for there was only boiled tea and a piece of bread and butter. While the other immigrants that came in before us had meat and cabbage and fruit. we stopped at the dippo one fortnight and then came straight to maryborough In the steamer Kerlawarra (or Sterlawarra). We went to Rockhampton in the ship which was our destination and it is much hotter than maryborough for it lies between two hills and not a breath of wind can get to you.

    I think that is all I can think of for now.

    From your loving son G Bradley.

    Please excuse the writing as it is 7 o’clock in the morning and I have to get to work by 8. Please write by return of post and let me hear how you are all going on.

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    kisses for the 2 children and you all

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