A voyager's diary

Screeds have been written about the voyages of the well to do immigrants who came out of New Zealand seeing the new country as a land of promise.
But few of those from the working class detailed their passage to New Zealand - not all could write and a great many never thought to do so.
But the detailed diary and letters of one, Jessie Campbell, gave an extraordinary insight into a months-long trip from the Old Country, to a new land.
There was a huge movement to bring people to New Zealand.  Workers were desperately needed.    Advertisements were run and people urged - even paid - to come to New Zealand to work.  Many were promised land.
Jessie Campbell was born in 1807 to John and Louisa Cameron in Inverness, Scotland.   She married Moses Campbell (from Perthshire) when she was 20.
 In 1840, the family boarded the Blenheim headed for New Zealand along with their five young children.
Jessie wrote about the voyage, both in a journal and in letters to friends back in Scotland.
She painted a picture of a bland diet (even though the Campbells took their own food supply in the form of live animals), of the separation of people - married couples with young children often in one bunk while older children were kept separate.  Single women in particular were overseen by a matron.
Washing day on the ship was a Sunday, everyone was herded (weather permitting) on to the deck to wash clothes and themselves.  Food and water was allocated every day - and while often it was bland rice and potatoes, seemed to be plentiful.
Sickness was everywhere.  Doctors were employed to check those embarking but often whole families with contagious illnesses got on board.  Doctors were paid per passenger that survived.  
Children were often born on board but just as often died.    Indeed, Jessie’s daughter Isabella died during the trip.
Jessie and her family landed in Wellington only to discover the land they were promised was actually in Whanganui but was still being surveyed. 
The journal of the journey ended with a comment on Wellington’s weather, 
`The climate would be delightful but for the high winds which prevail'.
 It took nearly a year for the family to be able to take another ship to Whanganui and eventually end up on the land they wanted near Lake Wiritoa.  
It was Jessie who realised that rather than finding work, her husband and her cousin John Cameron should farm.   Jessie herself supplemented the family income from her own dairy produce by making cheese.  Cash was rare and bartering was more common.
The pair had four sons and three daughters 
Jessie Campbell died on October 18, 1885, aged 77 of bronchitis and is buried in the Heads Road cemetery.
She was the great grandmother of celebrated New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn, who was born on the family farm.
Picture by Marcos Paulo Prado.

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