Diary Of A Welsh Swagman 1869 - 1894: Joseph Jenkins; annotated by William Evans

Jenkins arrived at Port Melbourne on 22nd March 1869 and began a series of diaries that 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 25 years. They reveal not only rural life at a formative era in Australia's 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 toothache; is dismayed at the bloodshed of the wars in Europe; tramps for miles in search of work...The discovery of the diaries, which had lain undisturbed in the attic of a Welsh farmhouse for over 70 years, provide a rare and penetrating glimpse of Colonial life in Queen Victoria's day. William Evans is the grandson of Joseph Jenkins and lives on the farm in Wales where as a three-year-old, he played with his diarist grandfather after his return from Australia. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-68087574