A Wonderful Change - the story of Robert Wrede including his Journal 1837-41There are few, if any, books about nineteenth century piano tuners. Their lives might be expected to be unexciting and their experiences unremarkable. But the life of Robert Wrede, especially as told in his journal, was far from dull. In the three years he documents (October 1837 - January 1841), he travelled from England to Cape Town, Sydney, to the young Melbourne, and to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), Adelaide, Surabaya, Singapore, three cities in India, and a number of small islands in between. He was almost lost at sea on several occasions, and suffered numerous horse riding or carriage accidents. He became an accomplished marksman, learned sufficient of the art of navigation to be able to take over from a drunken Captain, played in an historic cricket match, was involved in various romantic episodes, and jumped into the empty grave of one of the most notable figures in history. Meanwhile he tuned dozens of pianos and dined out on hundreds of occasions. |
Contents
The Journal of Robert William Wrede | 1 |
The Cape to Sydney 31st December 1837 | 33 |
At Sydney 24th February 1838 | 47 |
From Sydney to Melbourne 30th May 1838 | 69 |
At Melbourne 16th July 1838 | 93 |
Van Diemens Land 5th August 1838 | 105 |
At Melbourne Again 7th November 1838 | 133 |
To Adelaide 31st January 1839 | 161 |
Singapore to Calcutta 4th December 1839 | 235 |
At Calcutta 3rd January 1840 | 243 |
From Calcutta to Madras 18th February 1840 | 261 |
Madras and Pondicherry 8th March 1840 | 267 |
From Pondicherry to Mauritius 2nd April 1840 | 277 |
From Mauritius to The Cape 26th June 1840 | 295 |
At The Cape 13th August 1840 | 309 |
From The Cape to St Helena 17th October 1840 | 323 |
Return to Van Diemens Land 2nd April 1839 | 173 |
Melbourne Revisited 30th May 1839 | 183 |
Return to Sydney 15th August 1839 | 201 |
From Sydney to Surabaya 20th September 1839 | 209 |
From Surabaya to Singapore 30th October 1839 | 221 |
At Singapore 19th November 1839 | 227 |
From St Helena to London 6th November 1840 | 331 |
The Later Life of Robert Wrede | 349 |
Epilogue | 373 |
Acknowledgements | 389 |
Common terms and phrases
½ past accompanied afternoon afterwards anchored April arrived Aschen August Australia barque beautiful Binny & Co boat breakfast Brig Calcutta called calm Cape Capt Captain church Collard and Collard December deck Dined at Hodgson’s dinner drove England February Frankston Friday George Town Hansen Herman Highett horse hour Island January July June Kangaroo knot breeze Lackersteen ladies land Langhorne Langhorne’s last night Launceston London March Marianna Melbourne miles Milward’s Miss Hodgson Monday morning nearly noon Note November o’clock October passed Passengers Peyet Piano pleasant Port Phillip R W Wrede received returned river Robert Wrede rode sail Sarah Saturday Schooner September 1839 ship shore sight South Australia South Wales spent started Studley Park Sunday Surabaya Sydney Thorn Thursday told tomorrow took a walk Tuesday Upton Castle Van Diemen’s Land vessel Walton Watson weather Wednesday Welsh’s William Wrede Williams Town Wrote Yass yesterday