[BAROSSA VALLEY] The manuscript diary of William Spettigue Lillecrapp, September 1863-April 1864.

Large octavo journal (210 x 165 mm), original half green morocco over grey cloth (boards marked and sun-faded; corners worn; some loss to leather on spine); verso of front free-endpaper with ownership signature and date ‘W. S. Lillecrapp, 23 September, 1863’; manuscript in ink on unruled paper, pp. [157 Lillecrapp’s diary, September 1863-April 1864], [2 blank], [25 Lillecrapp’s later accounting records for 1867-68, with sundry notes such as ‘commenced cheese-making 4th September 1868’]; all entries are in Lillecrapp’s scrawly but decipherable hand, although several pages (including the first) are inexplicably cross-written; both hinges are split, but the diary remains complete; very occasional light foxing, otherwise clean throughout.

The original 1860s diary of William Spettigue Lillecrapp (1840-1920), a farmer at Gumeracha, on the southwestern edge of the Barossa Valley. The diarist was the son of William Lillecrapp (1815-1881), a pioneer settler in the Gumeracha and Eden Valley districts, who had arrived in South Australia from England in 1837. 

The diary has been published in its entirety, with a commentary, by its previous owner, Paul Depasquale, in William Spettigue Lillecrapp’s Diary, September 1863 – April 1864 / edited with notes and a response by Paul Depasquale. (Oaklands Park, SA : Pioneer Books, 2008).

As Depasquale observes (ibid., p.11): ‘Woven into the admittedly crudely made tapestry of the Diary are the household names of the Gumeracha of the 1860s: the Randells, the Tucks, the Monfrieses and, beyond them, more obscure men and women who, however, can almost all be traced in the standard references. The names of places, neighbours, acquaintances, and tradesmen have been checked and confirmed as accurate. The people of William Spettigue Lillecrapp’s Diary are real people moving in a real landscape, and therein lies the undying value of his record. In other words, the importance of the Diary derives from the fact it is firmly embedded in the context of the district of Gumeracha and surrounds in 1863-64….’