Diary of a Welsh Swagman 1869-1894 by William Evans

Diary of a Welsh Swagman 1869-1894

Abridged and notated by William Evans

Sun Books, 1977, ISBN 0725102462, lightly illustrated with black and white illustrations, black and white frontispiece, paperback

Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, age toned pages, previous owners’ inscription on half title page (See photographs)

“Joseph Jenkins arrived a Port Melbourne on the 22^nd of March 1869, and began a series of diaries which were to become a unique account of life In Colonial Australia.  Working on farms in the Ballarat and Castlemaine area, ‘old joe’ kept his diaries for twenty-five years.  They reveal not only rural life during one of the major formative eras of Australian history, but also an absorbing character study of Joe the diarist.
He was an unusual swagman.  In the diaries he emerges as a battler: appalled at the price of bread, he comments sternly on government policies and mismanagement; he starts ploughing in the morning moonlight; he suffers form toothache; registers with dismay the bloodshed of the wars in Europe; tramps for miles in search of work…”