| Physical description |
1 volume ([366] pages) : illustrations in watercolour and pencil on paper and tissue, colour and black and white ; 22 x 29 cm |
| Notes |
Title divised by cataloguer. |
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Blank pages are present in the original manuscript. |
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Original hand-written and illustrated journal held in the State Library of Western Australia with some missing illustrations and pages. |
| Access advisory |
Available for reference; not for loan. |
| Cite As |
State Library of Western Australia, Mary Ann Friend, ACC 8578A. |
| Additional formats |
A digital reproduction is also available online. |
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A transcription is also available in typescript and online. |
| Rights advisory |
Copyright or other restrictions may apply. For public use, contact the State Library of Western Australia. |
| Biography/history |
Mary Ann Friend was born in London around 1800, daughter of John Ford of Hampstead. In 1826 she married Matthew Curling Friend (1792-1871), a retired naval officer, inventor and nautical scientist. Three years later they left Portsmouth on board the Wanstead , a merchant ship of which her husband was master, transporting settlers to the new Swan River settlement in Western Australia. They arrived on 30 January 1830 – eight months after the first British settlers had embarked. In March, Mary Ann made a drawing of the camp at Fremantle on the banks of the Swan River where she, her husband and her husband’s brothers, Daniel, Charles and George, were living (two of the brothers, her husband and the artist herself can be seen in the image). Later published as a lithograph, her View at Swan River. Sketch of the Encampment of Matthew Curling Friend, Esqr. R.N. Taken on the Spot & Drawn on Stone by Mrs M.C.F. March 1830 shows the unusual core structure of her temporary home and studio (supplemented by tents and tarpaulins)-a 'horse house' from the ship converted into what she herself called a 'cottage orné'. After the voyage to Australia, they returned and settled in Launceston in July 1832, where Matthew had been appointed Port officer. They lived at George Town until Mary Ann’s death there on 27 December 1838. Matthew remarried in 1840 and returned to England due to ill health in 1852. Her name on the headstone at George Town General Cemetery, Tasmania, is shown as "Mary Anne Friend". |
| Summary |
Mary Ann Friend’s autograph manuscript journal of a voyage to Hobart, 14 August 1829 – 12 June 1831. Of exceptional historical interest to Western Australia. Friend’s journal, illustrated with her own sketches, includes three unpublished views of Fremantle, Western Australia, in the first year of its foundation, and two unpublished manuscript maps of the Swan River Settlements, alongside her detailed description of her stay at the Swan River settlements between 30 January and 19 March 1830, capturing them in the very earliest months of their existence (the colony was founded only in early June the previous year, and settlement at Perth began on 12 August). One of the first eye-witness accounts of the settlement on the Swan River, Mary Ann Friend voyaged to Australia on the Wanstead, a merchant vessel taking emigrants to the new Swan River settlements in Western Australia. Under the command of her husband, Matthew Curling Friend, RN, the Wanstead embarked from Portsmouth on 14 August 1829, sailing to Australia via Madeira, Bahia and the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived off Rottnest on 30 January 1830. From the Swan River they sailed on in March to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land, and returned to England via Singapore, Penang, Burma and Ascension Island. |
| Subjects |
Friend, Mary Ann, 1800-1838 -- Diaries.
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Wanstead (Ship)
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Travelers -- Diaries.
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Voyages and travels.
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Swan River Settlement (W.A.) -- Description and travel.
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Fremantle (W.A.) -- Description and travel.
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Hobart (Tas.) -- Description and travel.
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