About this site

Bound for South Australia is a digital re-enactment of the journey made 175 years ago by nine ships that came to South Australia in 1836.  It combines original historical source material and modern communications technology into a living digital history.

The website is organised as a ‘blog’ (a ‘web-log’) made up of weekly posts from surviving written records of these journeys and the people who made them.  The original source material presented each week comprises direct extracts from the journals, diaries, letters and logs of the crew and passengers on board the nine ships: Africaine, Buffalo, Cygnet, Duke of York, Emma, John Pirie, Lady Mary Pelham, Rapid and Tam O’Shanter.

Each week, from the commencement of the first voyage in February to the landing at Holdfast Bay on 28 December 1836, we will publish a new post that corresponds to that week on board.  There are 45 weeks in all which make for one fascinating story with many adventures along the way.

As well as the journal extracts, each of the weekly posts includes additional background information on the topics, issues and themes relevant to the people and happenings on board that week.  Profiles of the authors of the original material and each of the ships are also included.  Maps trace the progress of the ships on their journeys.   Extended extracts of original journal entries will be made available through the site, as well as the passenger lists for each ship.

For schools, there is a supplementary page of questions, lesson suggestions and activities associated with each of the weekly posts.

As we are working with original historical sources, sometimes there will be words and phrases that are unfamiliar to modern readers.  Wherever you see a word or phrase highlighted with grey shading, a short explanation is available by simply rolling over that word or phrase.  A full glossary of these terms (organised from A-Z) is available from the glossary section of the website.