Manuscript journal of Cecil Rice Arney (1806-1852), wife of Major Charles Augustus Arney (1808-1879) of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot ('The Black Cuffs'), a daily account describing in detail her voyage to Australia on board the convict ship Graton, to Van Diemen's Land, thence to Sydney, the convict settlement at Norfolk Island and on to Wellington, New Zealand; during the voyage noting the ships position, weather and wind speeds, commenting on the conditions on board ("...I had no idea that the dirt, irregularity and bad management could have prevailed to such a degree..."), and much annoyed by "...the screams of two boys (convicts) who were undergoing corporal punishment..."; landing at Van Diemen's Land ("...the shops are as good as could be expected in a new colony... the climate delightful..."), Christmas Day in Sydney ("...roast beef & plum pudding notwithstanding the heat..."), anniversary celebrations ("...a Regatta – for which this harbour is little suited... a grand entertainment was given to 300 of the elite of Sydney..."), trips to Windsor ("...No signs of Royalty...") and Botany Bay ("...remarkably white sand and fine mirtles [sic] to the waters edges... Cooks Well... where that celebrated man watered his fleet..."), commenting on extremes of weather ("...the long continued drought followed by frost has now destroyed almost every blade of grass... rain fell like a waterspout..."), hunting for kangaroos ("...much the taste of a hare but less dry..."), staying at an inn "...kept by a very notorious convict woman who had made a large fortune..."; deployment to the convict colony at Norfolk Island, juxtaposing the beautiful land ("...fertile almost beyond imagination... a second Eden...") with its inhabitants who "...instead of being... reformed here, become tenfold more reckless of all laws... transportation in all its horrors... What will not unprincipled men do, when they feel they have nothing to lose... their treatment increases their ferocity... after all the outcry of the slave trade, to allow any English subject to be placed in such a position is a crying evil...", noting her husband's dispute with the chaplin Thomas Naylor, several escape attempts, murder ("...the body of a convict employed as constable found murdered and frightfully mangled..."), fire at the barracks, sickness, news of disturbances with "natives" in New Zealand ("...eating the body of poor Cap. Grant... they put on the uniform again and send it back..."); the regiment called to New Zealand, the voyage and arrival at Wellington in February 1846 ("...what could have induced the selection of such a spot for an infant colony!..."), much on skirmishes in the Hutt Valley ("...the Mowries continue plundering the settlers... to draw the settlers into an attack..."), report of the "horrid" murder of a settler [Andrew Gillespie] and his son ("...distressingly mutilated by tomahawks in their beds..."), the 16 May attack on the camp in the Hutt Valley ("...The day has been marked by bloodshed!!!...six soldiers killed and four wounded... this species of attack most cowardly..."), ensuing rumour and panic in the town, flooding ("... no end of disasters in this benighted land..."), Māori ambushes ("...coming out from time to time to plunder or murder with impunity..."), arrest of the Māori chief Te Rauparaha at Pororua ("...I do not hear that there was a shot fired on either side..."), the flight of Te Rangihaeata, the birth of her daughter Augusta, court martial and punishment of the Māori rebels, ending with their departure in January 1847 ("...I have had some very rough work on your shore, still I can not leave you without regret..."), and much else, c.220 pages, numbered up to p.181, in ink and pencil, outer leaves with addresses, notes and doodles, dust-staining, discolouration, smudges, marks, small tears, tea stain covering first 18 leaves ("This day Nov 18 1843 breakfasted in bed and the first cup of tea brought to me was by a violent lurch of the vessel immediately thrown over this book and stained it as you see"), small part of lower first leaf and a few leaves at end excised, a few pages loose, marbled ends, blind-stamped maroon calf, worn with some loss to upper spine, 8vo (198 x 128mm.), At Sea, Sydney, Norfolk Island, Wellington, 9 July 1843 to 30 April 1849