And from me a thanks to ClareK.
I have just finished reading
The Letters of Rachel Henning that she pointed to (post #17), and for anyone interested in mid 19th Century Australian pioneer life and looking for a holiday read, I would suggest giving it a go.
Ordinarily, books of letters (especially womens' ones
) bore me to death and I am dismissive of them, but this was an impressive exception. The selected letters are written in quite an easy and informative narrative style with no "overhead" of irrelevant personal matters.