“Up at 8. Wind cold but weather fine. We are now so used to the sea that we do not notice hardly when it is very rough or not. The sea is running very high this morning but we are not shipping much water. Some of the fowls (the doomed ones) have been let out on the loose to-day & they are about the most dilapidated looking lot I have ever seen. One has no tail & another no feathers all over its breast & others have bare necks.

Joey has been trying to part his hair this morning but finds it no go; the same applies to me, as our hair is too short yet & I’m afraid we shall look something like the fowls if it does not grow before we get to Melbourne. Played at cards & chess during the evening & went to bed at 8.30”

Extract from A.Whelen’s travel journal aboard the Hesperides sailing from England to Australia in 1878