Sarah Davenport: a working woman at the diggings
In about 1869 Sarah Davenport sat down to record her experiences of immigration and life in New South Wales and Victoria in the 1840s and fifties. Her laboriously handwritten account was entitled 'Scech of an emegrants Life in australia from Leiving England in the year of our Lord 1841'. It is held in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Sarah's reminiscences are especially significant because they record the experiences of an ordinary working woman. Few such accounts survive. Most of the accounts of life on the diggings were written by educated men and women, many of them published authors. Sarah's 'scech' by contrast is far from a polished narrative. The spelling is erratic, the punctuation almost non-existent and the narrative bald, but Sarah's personality shines through the awkward expression, demanding our respect down the years for her determination and her resilience in the face of her many 'tryals'. We travel with her to rural New South Wales, then the rough diggings of gold-rush Victoria, willing her to succeed...