My Dearest Birdie: Letters to Australia 1874 to 1886 by Julie Phillips PAPERBACK

Brand new product\nFree UK standard delivery 2-3 days from despatch\nTracked secure courier\nPlease check delivery times at top of listing\nBookCurl is a family bookseller - thank you for your business\n\nIn February 1874, Jack Gowlland RN, newly promoted to the rank of Commander, and his sister Celia left England to travel across the Continent to Brindisi. From there they sailed via the newly opened Suez Canal to Australia. Celia never returned to England. Jack drowned surveying Sydney Harbour within months of his return to his post as head of the New South Wales Hydrographical Survey, and Celia married one of his closest friends within a year.\n\nSpanning twelve years, the letters to Celia - Birdie - that form this volume are from Celia's favourite brother, Richard, and his wife Jessie. They tell not only of family life in Victorian England - the vicissitudes of child bearing, unwelcome guests, making ends meet on a meagre income - but also bring to life some of the broader social .