Letters (28) from Johannes Gerardus van Rossum from Australia, 1854-1861

By Siobhan Campbell
2024-06-03 02:00:04

Gerardus Johannes van Rossum (1832-1861) arrived in Sydney from Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1854. From a series of letters he wrote home to his parents and brother, we get a lively account of his life as a Dutch migrant intent on seeking a fortune during the peak years of the gold rush. These letters, 28 pages in total, date from 29 December 1854 to 16 June 1861 and are in the form of printed microform reproductions on photographic paper and are housed in the State Library of New South Wales. The whereabouts of the original letters is not known.

The first letter in this bundle is dated Parramatta, 29 December 1854 and greets his parents with news of his four-month journey as surgeon on board the Dutch vessel Johanna Maria, which travelled from the port of Liverpool on 20 June 1854, arriving in Sydney on 28 October 1854. He relates the good news that he has secured employment as an assistant to Dr Gordon Gwynne in Parramatta[1] with a salary of 1300 guilders a year. Despite the high salary he relates that everything is expensive, and he plans to stay only a couple of months while looking for a position as surgeon on an English, French or Dutch ship.

The next letter is dated over a year later and by this time van Rossum has changed his mind about returning to the Netherlands. He is enjoying his new life and work with Dr Gywnne, is eating better than ever before and has managed to save a considerable sum in the bank. However, he shortly abandons Parramatta in search of gold. He reported that Dr Gwynne was closing his practice and apothecary and had offered van Rossum his passage home, however van Rossum writes that although “I long to see everyone again, I cannot and do not want to return to Holland as poor as I left it, everyone can make their fortune here, I am young, strong, not lacking in knowledge, full of hope and trust, and I want to give it for two or three years...”

Equipped with two blankets, an overcoat, two pairs of trousers, two shirts, six pairs of woollen stockings, a pistol, a few knives, forks, spoons, a tin pot for tea and coffee, an axe, medicines, tea, coffee and a pound of chocolate, van Rossum joins a group of men travelling to the gold fields. His letters describe the journey by foot from Parramatta, passing through the Blue Mountains to the Meroo Creek area and Richardsons Point (now Windeyer).  They spent the nights at inns or in a tent, which van Rossum describes and sketches in detail, along with lengthy descriptions of the equipment they use (the cradle and long tom) and their daily routine.  Although the group of seven does find gold, disappointment sets in when the nuggets they find are hardly enough to cover the cost of provisions.

Eventually van Rossum settled in Mudgee where he established himself as a doctor, often travelling by horseback to treat patients throughout the district, opened a pharmacy and was naturalised in 1858. Although he reports that his Mudgee practice is a success and that he is regarded as the best of the five doctors in the town, van Rossum remains enticed by the prospect of making a greater fortune. In the final letter to his mother and brother, dated 16 June 1861, he is exploring the prospect of buying land at Coonamble, which had just been proclaimed a town but he tells his family that they will have to wait for his next letter to find out whether he has gone ahead with his latest scheme.

Johannes Gerardus van Rossum passed away in August 1861 after taking poison. His death by suicide was widely reported in the press at that time. The letters he left behind offer a distinctive perspective on what life was like for a Dutch speaking migrant in New South Wales during the 1850s, the kinds of opportunities on offer to make a living, the challenges of learning a new language, how people moved through different locales, the elation of the gold rush years, the sense of isolation and the optimism of being in a new environment.

[1] Gordon Gywnne (1810-1865) was a legally qualified medical practitioner who remained in Parramatta until his death in 1865. Although he was highly regarded for his medical skills, he faced a number of insolvency proceedings and was also involved in goldmining ventures at Meroo Creek.