Stepping into the Unknown

In 1854, having made his fortune as a squatter from his station Yulgilbar on the upper Clarence in NSW, my great, great grandfather Edward David Stewart Ogilvie, set out to travel back to England. His life story has been ably documented in the book Squatters Castle by George Farwell so I don't intend repeating all of that here but on completing his journey, he vanity published the diary of his travels. In his own words he did so because;

Before leaving my distant home at the Antipodes, many kind friends expressed a wish that I should commit to writing, for their amusement, my impressions of the various scenes and wonders I was about to visit in the course of a pilgrimage which was to lead me over many of the most interesting portions of the Old World.
The following "Diary" has been the result, and, as too frequently happens in like cases, my views having become more ambitious as my task proceeded, I have yielded to the prevalent inclination to print, and now add my Book of Travels to the legion of works of a like character which encumber the shelves of every Book- seller from Bond Street to Paternoster Row.
Whether in this I have acted with wisdom or otherwise, the event will determine ; but should the "Diary" find readers among the public, I trust that the above remarks may be deemed a sufficient excuse, where feelings, or incidents, have been recorded, or dwelt upon, which can possess little
interest for any but the personal friends
of
THE AUTHOR. 


Perhaps the best known image of Edward is this portrait he commissioned from  Tom Roberts, forty years after his trip.

I don't know if Edward did find many readers amongst the public but when I went on an internet search of antiquarian book sellers to see if I could find a copy of his "Diary" I couldn't find any. However, thanks again to the wonders of the internet, I did discover that you could access the first volume online and purchase copies of modern prints of both, courtesy of those publishers who reproduce out of copyright works. By this path I was able to read my ancestors words.

Until I did so, I hadn't realised that Edward had been to Albany in Western Australia, my own home for the last three decades. Reading his description of this place, at that time commonly known as King Georges Sound, was so fascinating that the idea came to me that I should follow his tracks, comparing the places he visited then with now.

Perhaps if Edward were alive today, he would have resorted to "the legion of works of a like character" that now appear as blogs so that is the option I chose to document my journey, hopefully for the amusement of my own kind friends.

This then is the opening post in what I hope turns into an adventure for me and a tribute to a remarkable man.