My dear brother

We thank God that we are permitted by his sparing hand of writing these few lines unto you and trusting it will find you enjoying your health as thank God it leaves all of us at present;

We did not sail from Cork in Ireland until the 4th of January last in the morning about 6 o’clock for Port Phillip.

We had a good Wind all through the Bay of Biscay the Ship run 10 Miles a hour. We found it very hot in crossing the Equator and that was about four weeks after we left Cork in Ireland and we passed the Cape of Good Hope on 24th February –

We had Church service every Sunday on board our Ship; We had between two and three hundred Passengers on board of our Ship – We passed Amsterdam and St Pauls and they were the last two Islands we saw before we reached Port Phillip –

We cast Anchor on the 6th of April and the next morning there was a board of inspection held, and there was a great many Gentlemen and Ladies came on board to hire Servants, and if there had been two or three hundred Girls they would all get places with good wages but there was only 17 on board of our ship –

This place is not like England they do not beat you down about Wages nor you have no need to stand in want of place if you are a steady man, but there is so many here that will not work but get drunk.

If any of you do come do not encumber yourselves with tools for you can get them as cheap here as you can in England. You can buy an Axe 6d to the pound, Spade 3s. 6d, Shovel 2s. 6d, and most of Grocery is very reasonable Flour is from 10s to 11s per hundredweight, Meat from 1d to 1½d per pound, you may get a good Leg of Mutton for 6d and a good Bullock’s head for 3d, Butter from 10d to 1s per pound, Cheese from 7d to 1s, Sugar from 2d to 4d, Tea 1s 6d to 3s, Tobacco from 1s 6d , to 3s 6d, Candles 5d, Pepper 1d per oz, good Mustard 1d per oz, Soap 5d per pound, Salt 1d per pound, good Pork 4d pr pound, A good pig about 4 or 5 shillings as good as you can in England for 10 or 12 shillings, a good Cow for two or three pounds as large as they are in England,

All kinds of stock is as good as it is in England; You may buy good Land here for £1 pr Acre as good as any in England if so be you will buy 80 acres. But if you buy a section of Land you get it still cheaper

Hannah and I have not repented leaving Old England as yet but we only wishes you had the heart to come, for we often talk about it, and wishes you was here with us for there is a great deal better chance here for a person than what there is in England.

On the first of my arrival in this Colony I could had a plenty of places but I did not engage with anyone on board of our ship, but I went and found James Sympson, Esq. and he found me employment immediately and sent his steam boat and took my family and luggage out of the Ship and found me a good house to live in Rent Free and a plenty of fuel and vegetables and the wages I am receiving is 15s per week the money in the Country is just the same as it is in England & so is the Weights and Measures

I have often heard you my dear friends say that things in other Countries is not so good as they are in England but I will assure you that every thing here is as good as it is in England, Clothing, Grocery, Meat & all kind of Fruit and everything that is useful to man from the Currant to the Gooseberry up to the Banyan and Pine Apple

My Master has between 30 and 40 Acres of Garden ground we have fruit of all kinds, Apples, Pears, Plumbs, Cherries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Mulberries, Medlers, Oranges, Peaches, Nectarines, Lemons, Grapes of different kinds and many other kinds of Fruit, for here is everything that a man can wish for to make himself happy, it will be more so after a while because it hath not been inhabited only 8 years, So you can see that there hath not time enough for fruit trees to come to their goodness.

But the Town of Melbourn is nearly as large as Chichester & Williams Town as large as Midhurst.

But Trade at present seems rather dull; Such people as is wanting here is good handy people as can turn their hands to different things, for here is plenty of People here as will not work – A good Man Servant will get from £15 to £20 per year and a good Woman Servant nearly as much, A good boy will get 1s. 6d. or 2s. per week & his provisions & lodgings about the size of my James to look after a few Cows or Sheep, I could had plenty of places for him but I have plenty for him to do with me –

So my Dear Brother I hope you will not disbelieve what I have said for the God of Heaven knows it is true to the best of my knowledge So my dear Friends I hope you will make up your minds and come to join us in this Fruitful Country and be not afraid to come for there is the same God to protect you on the Sea as there is on the Land –

And I hope you will let all my Friends know about it, and then they may think to their ownselves which is the best Country; I think John Randall could not do a better thing than to come for his Girls would all get good places, for young Girls is what is wanting here, and if they come I entreat you John Randall to bring Hannah’s Father with you for I will keep him as long as he lives. And as for my Father I will do the best as it lies in my power if so be He should ever think of coming, for it is our duty to do the best as we can for our Parents & keep in mind the love Brothers and Sisters should have one to the other & I should be very glad to see Harriet & Jane Courtenage here for they might get good places, and they should have a home as long as I have one and if George Courtenage is at home tell him there is a home for him, if he should like to come and I should persuade you all to come now there is a free passage and not abide in that wretched place for you can live here with half of your wages – House Rent is about 2s. per week, I can do as much here with 15s. as in England with 30s. you can get a fair Cow for 30s. and a good one as any in Engkland for £3 and everything else is as reasonable, Potattoes 1s. per bushell, If any of you do come do not pay your own passage as that is £20 and as soon as the Ship Lands you must seek your own victuals, We lived just as well as them that paid their own passage,

give my kind respects to David & Uncle David and tell him he is just the stump that is wanting here –

You can get a good single Barreled Gun for £2 or £3 but down here there is nothing to kill, but there is plenty about 10 miles in the Country, Melbourn is about 2 miles from the Harbour. So I hope you will give my kind respects to all Uncles and Aunts and Cousins and to all relatives and Acquaintances from

your ever affectionate Brother & Sister Jesse & Hannah Morley

My directions are thus: