Albany 2026: Century-old diary detailing journey from England to Albany via ship offers glimpse into 1926

A century after her father first set foot on Australian soil, Sybil Davies has shared a personal glimpse into the city’s past through his diary entry written during his arrival to Albany via boat in 1926.

Douglas Parbery Frost came to Australia in 1926 from Northampton, England, and the diary entry describes his journey from arriving in Albany to travelling through the Great Southern up to Fremantle.

Ms Davies has compiled a book, titled The Life of Douglas Parbery Frost, containing several entries from her father’s personal diary.

While the whereabouts of the original diary are unknown, she was able to piece together some of his written stories.

“In 1970 he started writing his story and he used his diary only for a short time,” she said.

“I couldn’t find it but he had recorded those parts in here.”

Mr Frost was just 21 years old when he decided to leave England, a move Ms Davies said was due to a disagreement with his father, who owned an ironmongers shop.

“He went to work for his father, but they had an argument and that’s when he decided he would come out to Australia for some reason,” Ms Davies said.

“And then he did and described in here the details of the journey and his arrival in Albany.”

Ms Davies said the entry also described the challenging conditions faced by new arrivals, with the Great Southern experiencing heavy flooding at the time.

“Evidently, the whole area was flooded,” she said.

“He caught a train up to Perth to Fremantle but it had to stop at Narrogin and take a detour of Brunswick junction and go to Perth that way.”

In his diary, Mr Frost recorded his first impressions of Albany and even his first meal on Australian soil.

Ms Davies said the diary highlights just how different life was a century ago.

“It shows how different life was then,” she said.

“I mean, 100 years ago things were quite different.”

Ms Davies’ daughter Roslyn Davies said preserving and sharing stories like these were very important, especially in Albany’s bicentenary year.

“The world is changing so quickly all the time,” she said.

“It’s great to have a record of these very different times, and the people who come and created the Australia that we have today.”

She said the diary was also an opportunity for younger generations to connect with the past.

“I think it’s great for the younger people of today to be able to read and learn about these things,” she said.

“It’s great to have these records.”

DIARY EXTRACT

“Thursday morning, July 22nd 1926: Wrapped in rain clouds and mists, the ‘Vedic’ moved slowly toward the new land, variously referred to as ‘The Great South Land’ by many, then ‘New Holland’ by Dutch navigators, and as Australia by Mathew Flinders, once again meaning ‘The South Land’.

Most Passengers were on deck, as might be expected and they were briefly greeted by Australian sunshine before it was obscured by vagrant clouds, the aftermath of the heavy rain clouds that had deluged the Southwest of the country for several days. Then, out of the low haze, emerged outlines of land and trees. The ‘Vedic’s’ skipper knew that the conglomeration of mists and low level cloud would not lift like those at Teneriffe. The ship inched slowly, cautiously forward, nosing its way past Bald Head into King George Sound with siren continuously sounding. By a miracle, it would seem, the Pilot boat found us and the Pilot was taken aboard and proceeded to guide us past the many unseen islands and the Heads.

My little friend, Shepherd came to me and shook my hand, adding, “This is Princess Royal Harbour, and you will soon be treading on West Australian soils”.

We wished each other luck as we parted ways, and as I turned away, through a break in the mist I had my first glimpse into the land, and I saw pine trees — not so big — by English standards they may have been six or seven years, perhaps ten since they were planted. They could have been an Australian variety.

It was a while before I saw the outline of a wooden jetty. We moved alongside and moored, with a few quick movements from sailors and shoremen.

It was now 10 a.m.

About thirty or forty migrants had chosen to stay in W.A. We passed the medical officer and moved down the gangway.

Wharfies strolled around, or more generally leaned and watched, looking somewhat gangsterish with their black felt hats and unemotional faces.

Soon the ship’s slings started to hoist cases, trunks and other baggage from the ship’s hold.

Passengers were not destined to see much of Albany, the point of West Australia’s first settlement in 1826, just one hundred years earlier. The rain squalls were sudden and heavy, like those experienced in Capetown. The gutters in the streets were extremely wide and the water rushed down them in torrents.

The railway was nearby. Empty coaches were shunted back to accommodate the new arrivals. The narrow gauge caught my attention, and we were told it was only 3 feet 6 inches, compared with the English standard gauge of 4 feet 8 ½ inches.

Adjacent to this was the ‘Crystal Café’ where I had a most enjoyable tea, my first meal off the ship before commencing what must have been one of the most unusual train journeys ever made to the busy port of Fremantle .… “