Melbourne, District of Port Phillip, 1840
Melbourne, District of Port Phillip, 1840The boys found employment within three days of their arrival in Melbourne and their father joined them on the same work site two days’ later. They worked on a wooden church, in the bush, to the north of the town. 1 Melbourne was expanding, it had a vitality to it that Betsy had not remembered in Hobart Town or New Norfolk.
John secured the family some accommodation in one of the thirteen hotels, this one in Collins Street, and he and his sons left each morning, making their way through the dirt streets, to work.
The family occupied three rooms in the hotel and ate in the dining room with the other guests. Eager to save money to fund their new start, Betsy negotiated a reduced rent for her services as a co
