Jacob Scheef - Letters to Home - 17 May 1885

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his third letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia. Biographical Entry


John Elder  Adelaide
the 17 May 1885



My dear wife and children
I wrote to you from Melbourne and also I received a letter from you of the same same content as the one I got in Sydney when I wrote last I was not yet in the city so could tell you nothing of it since I have seen a good deal of it Directly we were on the wharf I went and posted my letter and had one or two hours in the city the Sydney is a fine city but is not a patch to Melbourne because the street are all two chains wide and are all straight the next day I went again and seen the Exhibition Building as well as the aquarium with all the fishes also the Museum and the Botanical Gardens and the Town in general  the country around the city is nice and green something Spring the 16 at morning 7 o’clock we left the wharf and outside again about twelve the same head wind again as from Sydney now arrived went to work again because we had same weather as from Sydney. We are about 100 now in the steerage amongst are 4 Germans, 2 Wurttemberg one Saxe one Holstein which comes from the Murray River has land there and comes back here again our steaming is the same there is always to be seen on the right land last night at dusk we passed Cape Ottway about 100 miles from Melbourne we expect to reach Adelaide this evening where I will post this my health remains good and I don’t think you will receive another letter before 3 weeks as they have coal that will bring us through the red sea so my next letter probably will be from Naples So I wish Good bye for the present and trust that you are all well and remain so
Your loving Husband
and Father
Jacob F Scheef
it is very bad writing on board ship

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